This study was designed to investigate the effects of calcium antagonists and glucosylated LDL on intracellular lipid metabolism . The human serum LDL was isolated by density gradient ultracentri-fugation and glucosylated by incubation with glucose. The content of intracellular cholsterol was determined by enzymatic method which is simple, convenient and satisfactory. It was found that the contents of cholesterol in cultured human fibroblasts incubated with verapamil and(or)glucosylated LDL were higher than those incubat- ed with control LDL or without verapamil. The results suggested that calcium antagonists and glucosylation of LDL might affect in-tracellular lipid metabolism and play a role in atherosclerosis.

In order to investigate the action of calcium antagonists on metabolism of intracellular macromolecules, The authors observed the effects of verapamil on the incor-poration of 〔 3H 〕 TdR, 〔 3H 〕 UR and 〔 3H 〕 Leu into human fibroblasts. The inhibitory effects on DNA and RNA synthesis were concentration dependent, ID50 was l2.3mg/L and 22mg/L, respectively. The inhibitory effect on the synthesis of protein was weak.