Effect of chronic ursocholic acid administration on bile lipid composition and bile acid pool size in gallstone patients.
We assessed the effect of chronic (4-6 weeks) administration of ursocholic acid (UCA) (15 mg/kg/day), a natural bile acid with poor detergent capacity, on biliary lipid composition of gallbladder bile (n = 26) and bile acid pool size (n = 5) in gallstone patients. During treatment the biliary molar percentage UCA increased from trace values to 28% (p less than 0.001). This effect was accompanied by an increase in molar percentage deoxycholic acid from 16% to 33% (p less than 0.001). Total bile acid pool size remained unchanged during UCA administration; cholic acid and chenodeoxycholic acid pool sizes decreased from 1.0 to 0.6 mmol (p less than 0.05) and from 1.6 to 0.9 mmol (p less than 0.05), respectively. The molar percentage cholesterol of gallbladder bile decreased from 9.8% to 7.0% (p less than 0.001) during UCA, but bile remained supersaturated with cholesterol in 21 patients. The weak effect on biliary lipid composition and the increase of potentially toxic deoxycholic acid in bile suggest that UCA is unlikely to replace ursodeoxycholic and chenodeoxycholic acid for medical treatment of gallstones.
Dept. of Clinical Medicine, University of Brescia, Italy.
A
A
Lanzini
G
G
Pigozzi
D
D
Facchinetti
L
L
Bettini
M
M
Castellano
M
M
Beschi
A
A
Rossi
G
G
Muiesan
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001647:Bile Acids and Salts / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D002793:Cholic Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors
D001647:Bile Acids and Salts; D002793:Cholic Acids; D008055:Lipids; C030712:ursocholic acid