@article{oai:nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp:00021837, author = {Kawai, Kioko and Tsuchiyama, Hideo}, issue = {1-4}, journal = {Acta medica Nagasakiensia}, month = {Oct}, note = {The ultrastructural localization of cholesterol was studied by digitonin reaction which has been used to identify the free cholesterol for electron microscopy. Digitonin-cholesterol complex revealed multi-layered cylindrical electron dense lamellae and concentric whorled lamellae. They were found in the cytoplasm closely attached to the plasma membrane in adrenocortical cells, and were also present in extracellular spaces around capillaries in the adrenal cortex. Some of them were present in lipid vacuoles and some of them are attached to the outer membrane of mitochondria. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the free cholesterol is the precursor of steroid hormone in the adrenal cortex. The fact that some mitochondria were surrounded by digitonin-cholesterol complex and these complexes had a close relation with lipid vacuoles, suggested to us that cholesterol might be stored in lipid vacuoles and they might move into mitochondria for the hydroxylation and the side chain cleaving to form pregnenolone in the steroid pathway., Acta medica Nagasakiensia. 1988, 33(1-4), p.193-195}, pages = {193--195}, title = {Ultrastructural Localization of Digitonin-Cholesterol Complex in the Adrenal Cortex}, volume = {33}, year = {1988} }