About 1, 300 strains isolated from soil were evaluated for acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) inhibition activity. About 4.0% of actinomycetes and 3.6% of fungi showed greater than 50% inhibition activity, respectively. However, none of the isolated bacteria exhibited inhibition activity more than 50%. Among them, one Streptomyces sp. A-3 showed a higher ACAT inhibition activity in culture broth. Isolation of the ACAT inhibitor (AI-3) was achieved by Amberlite XAD-7 column, silica-gel column, Sephadex LH-20 gel-filtration and reverse phase HPLC.