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Journal of Lipid Research, Vol. 43, 1960-1968, November 2002 Effect of ß-muricholic acid on the prevention and dissolution of cholesterol gallstones in C57L/J mice1
* Department of Medicine, Gastroenterology Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Digestive Diseases Center, Boston MA
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: dqwang{at}caregroup.harvard.edu This study investigated whether ß-muricholic acid, a natural trihydroxy hydrophilic bile acid of rodents, acts as a biliary cholesterol-desaturating agent to prevent cholesterol gallstones and if it facilitates the dissolution of gallstones compared with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). For gallstone prevention study, gallstone-susceptible male C57L mice were fed 8 weeks with a lithogenic diet (2% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid) with or without 0.5% UDCA or ß-muricholic acid. For gallstone dissolution study, additional groups of mice that have formed gallstones were fed chow with or without 0.5% ß-muricholic acid or UDCA for 8 weeks. One hundred percent of mice fed the lithogenic diet formed cholesterol gallstones. Addition of ß-muricholic acid and UDCA decreased gallstone prevalence to 20% and 50% through significantly reducing biliary secretion rate, saturation index, and intestinal absorption of cholesterol, as well as inducing phase boundary shift and an enlarged Region E that prevented the transition of cholesterol from its liquid crystalline phase to solid crystals and stones. Eight weeks of ß-muricholic acid and UDCA administration produced complete gallstone dissolution rates of 100% and 60% compared with the chow (10%). We conclude that ß-muricholic acid is more effective than UDCA in treating or preventing diet-induced or experimental cholesterol gallstones in mice.
Abbreviations: CSI, cholesterol saturation index; HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography; UDCA, ursodeoxycholic acid Supplementary key words bile flow phospholipid intestinal cholesterol absorption phase diagram
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