Effects of cholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid, and their related bile acids on cholesterol, phospholipid, and bile acid levels in serum, liver, bile, and feces of rats.

Effects of sodium cholate, deoxycholate, chenodeoxycholate, and lithocholate on serum and liver cholesterol levels, bile flow, biliary cholesterol, phospholipids, and bile acids, and fecal sterols and bile acids were examined in Wistar strain male rats fed either an ordinary diet or a 2% cholesterol diet. Cholate and deoxycholate increased serum and liver cholesterol levels, serum pre beta-lipoprotein, bile flow, and biliary secretion of cholesterol, phospholipids, and bile acids, but chenodeoxycholate and lithocholate did not. The total amounts of sterols and of bile acids in the feces did not differ between the cholate and the chenodeoxycholate groups. All the bile acids except lithocholate decreased fecal coprostanol when the diet included cholesterol. Cholate and deoxycholate produced similar bile acid compositions in the bile and feces, as was the case between chenodeoxycholate and lithocholate, though chenodeoxycholate slightly increased the amount of muricholic acids, and lithocholate that of hyodeoxycholic acid, in the feces. The effects of cholate and deoxycholate are similar to each other but different from that of chenodeoxycholate or lithocholate in rats. Cholate causes marked accumulation of cholesterol in tissues, increased bile flow and biliary lipid secretion but chenodeoxycholate does not. Cholate is absorbed much more efficiently than chenodeoxycholate.