In rats without thyroid glands that ate a high-cholesterol diet, a drug called ezetimibe lowered their blood cholesterol and brought back their liver’s cholesterol-making enzyme to normal levels, but didn’t change the receptor that clears cholesterol from the blood.

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Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

9

Community contributions welcome

9

Selective Compensatory Induction of Hepatic HMG-CoA Reductase in Response to Inhibition of Cholesterol Absorption

Cohort Study

Animal

2006 May

The study gave rats a drug called ezetimibe after removing their thyroid and feeding them high-cholesterol food, and it worked exactly as described: cholesterol dropped, a key liver enzyme bounced back to normal, but another protein (LDL receptor) didn’t change.

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No contradicting evidence found

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Source Study

Selective Compensatory Induction of Hepatic HMG-CoA Reductase in Response to Inhibition of Cholesterol Absorption

Score: 9

DOI: 10.1177/153537020623100510

Similar Assertions

When diabetic rats ate a high-cholesterol diet and were given a drug called ezetimibe, their blood cholesterol dropped dramatically, and their liver made more of a key cholesterol-making enzyme—not by making more of its instructions, but by using the existing instructions more efficiently.

9

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82%

In healthy rats that naturally make a lot of cholesterol in their liver, the drug ezetimibe didn’t lower their blood cholesterol at all.

9

0

81%

Even though ezetimibe lowered cholesterol and changed a key liver enzyme in diabetic and thyroid-deficient rats, it didn’t change the liver’s cholesterol-cleaning receptors at all.

9

0

75%