Bile acid kinetics and bile secretion in the pony.

Bile acid pool size and synthesis rate were determined by both isotope-dilution and washout methods in ponies with chronic external biliary fistulas. Bile acid pool size (10.9 mumol/kg) and synthesis rate (11.2 mumol/day per kg) estimated by the isotope-dilution method did not differ significantly from pool size (9.4 mumol/kg) and synthesis rate (9.5 mumol/day per kg) estimated by washout method. Bile acid-dependent and -independent fractions of bile flow, determined by a method that circumvents any inevitable correlation of flow to bile acid secretion due to common factors in both parameters, did not differ from those values obtained by linear regression of bile flow versus bile acid secretion. The choleretic effect of infused chenodeoxycholic acid was higher than that of both endogenous bile acid and infused taurocholic acid.