Kinetic analysis of bile salt passage across a dialysis membrane in the presence of cereal soluble dietary fibre polymers.

The kinetics of passage of a model bile salt and complete porcine bile across a dialysis membrane, in the presence and absence of two cereal-derived soluble dietary fibre polysaccharides, were studied as a model for passage across the unstirred water layer that lines the small intestine. A first-order kinetic analysis allowed rate coefficients to be derived which quantified the effectiveness of barley mixed linkage β-glucan and wheat arabinoxylan in retarding the transport of bile. For both, a model bile salt and complete porcine bile, rate coefficients decreased with both concentration and viscosity. A combination of viscosity and molecular interaction effects is suggested to control the effect of the two polysaccharides on the transport of bile.