Sterol 27-hydroxylase (CYP27A1) is a mitochondrial P-450 enzyme with broad substrate specificity for C27 sterols including 7-ketocholesterol (7kCh). CYP27A1 is widely expressed in human tissues but has not been previously demonstrated in the retina. In this study, we examined the expression and localization of CYP27A1 in the monkey retina where it localized mainly to the photoreceptor inner segments. CYP27A1 was also observed in Müller cells with faint immuno staining detected in the RPE and choriocapillaris. We also determined that the 27-hydroxylation of 7-ketocholesterol (27OH7kCh) rendered it non-toxic to cultured RPE cells. Moreover, the 27OH7kCh when mixed with 7-ketocholesterol significantly reduced the toxicity of 7-ketocholesterol. These data, when taken in context of the known functions of CYP27A1 imply that expression in the retina serves to modify the biological activity of oxidized sterols that are either transported or generated locally by photooxidation. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords cholesterol efflux; macula; 7-ketocholesterol; ARPE19; photoreceptors The sterol 27-hydroxylase (CYP27A1:P450c27, Andersson et al., 1989) is a mitochondrial enzyme that performs multiple functions (Javitt, 2002, review): it is known to catalyze bile acid hydroxylations (Russell, 2003, review) and to activate vitamin D (Usui et al., 1990); furthermore, the formation of 27-hydroxycholesterol (27OHCh) by CYP27A1 has been demonstrated to stimulate cholesterol efflux in cultured cells (Escher et al., 2003). CYP27A1 is deficient in individual with the rare disease cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) . CTX patients suffer from progressive neurological impairment as well as accelerated atherosclerosis and cataracts (Moghadasian, 2004, review).CYP27A1 readily hydroxylates the oxysterol 7-ketocholesterol (7kCh) to 27-hydroxy-7-ketocholesterol (27OH7kCh) (Brown et al., 2000), which is highly toxic to a variety of cells (Lyons and Brown, 1999) including RPE cells and is the main cholesterol oxide in oxidized low density lipoprotein (Brown et al., 1996) (Brown and Jessup, 1999).The rationale for this study is threefold: (1) CYP27A1 is known to be involved in the cholesterol efflux pathway (Escher et al., 2003), (2) CYP27A1 is known to be involved in the metabolism of 7kCh (Brown et al., 2000;Lyons and Brown, 2001;Jessup and Brown, 2005) and (3) despite the extensive knowledge of cholesterol hydroxylation in the brain (Björkem and Meaney, 2004; Diestschy and Turley, 2004, reviews), there are no published reports concerning CYP27A1 (or other sterol hydroxylases) in the retina. The retina is known to perform de novo synthesis (Fliesler et al., 1993) as well as cholesterol uptake from circulating blood lipoproteins (Elner, 2002;Gordiyenko et al., 2004). However, little is known about the cholesterol efflux or how the retina maintains cholesterol homeostasis. CYP27A1 may be involved in cholesterol efflux by forming 27OHCh which can change the lipid composition of the plasma membrane and/or can alter gene expression by ...