Secretion of bile salts by intact and isolated rat livers

Abstract

Bile was collected from bile fistula rats and from the cannulated bile ducts of normal and 2-day choline-defîcient rats during 3 h of isolated liver perfusion. The bile acids were isolated as their taurine and glycine conjugates and the component acids analyzed. In comparison to the fistula bile of normal rats, the bile of the perfused livers of both choline-free and choline-supplemented animals showed increased conjugation of bile acids with glycine and a decreased cholate/chenodeoxycholate ratio. Although the volume of bile produced was similar for both groups of animals, the choline-deficient livers showed an average of 20% decrease in total bile acid production and a 20% decrease in cholate/chenodeoxycholate ratio, when compared to the acids from the bile of the perfused normal livers. By means of combined thin-layer and gas chromatographic analysis, all biles were shown to contain lithocholic, deoxycholic, chenodeoxycholic, hyodeoxycholic, ursodeoxycholic, cholic, and α- and β-muricholic acids as well as 3β,12α-dihydroxy- and 3α,12β-dihydroxy-cholanoic acids.