Regulation of Cholesterol Metabolism

Output from the System — Excretion and Degradation of Cholesterol Cholesterol excretion and degradation take place predominantly through the gastrointestinal tract by two mechanisms — excretion of cholesterol itself and catabolism of cholesterol to bile acids. Although these moieties and their bacterial transformation products are thought to account for the vast majority of cholesterol turnover in the normal state, the possibility has never been excluded that alternative mechanisms such as desquamation of skin and hair, conversion to steroid hormones and elimination in the urine and its sediment are important in some pathologic states. Neutral Sterol Output The mechanism (or mechanisms).