Journal of Lipid Research, Vol 32, 205-214, Copyright © 1991 by Lipid Research, Inc.
Comparative analysis of cholesterol transport in bile from patients with and without cholesterol gallstones
NR Pattinson, KE Willis and CM Frampton
Gastroenterology Research Unit, Christchurch School of Medicine, Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand.
Aggregation of cholesterol-phospholipid vesicles in supersaturated biles
precedes cholesterol crystal formation. In this study we examined the
relationship between the percentage of cholesterol carried by vesicles
and/or their composition and the propensity to form cholesterol crystals
(nucleation time). Bile (common bile duct, gallbladder and T-tube) was
obtained from patients with and without gallstones. Gel filtration
chromatography resolved three peaks, a void volume vesicle, a smaller
vesicle (identified by electron microscopy and of distinct composition
compared to the larger void volume vesicle), and the mixed micelle. The
void volume vesicle was present in 11 of 28 abnormal gallbladder biles, but
in none of the 10 normal gallbladder biles. Despite this difference, no
correlation between the nucleation time of whole bile with either the
percentage of cholesterol carried by or cholesterol/phospholipid ratio of
the void volume vesicle was found. Nucleation time was, however, found to
correlate with the composition of the small-vesicular transport form. No
significant difference in the composition or percentage of the
small-vesicular form or the combined vesicular forms was found between
normal and abnormal gallbladder biles, although the latter nucleated
significantly more rapidly. Our results confirm the importance of vesicles
in the nucleation process but suggest that other factors, not yet
identified, appear to be responsible for the more rapid nucleation seen in
abnormal gallbladder biles.
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