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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

In vivo Liver Endocytosis Followed by Purification of Liver Cells by Liver Perfusion
Published on: November 10, 2011
The ileocyte basolateral organic solute transporter (OSTalpha-OSTbeta) complex: finding the missing link in
1Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutics, Richmond, VA 23298-0533, USA.
Abstract:
Many drugs are removed from the body through a multistep process that includes covalent conjugation, transport into the bile, and excretion. Bile acids are transported across the ileocyte apical (brush border) membrane by the apical sodium-dependent bile-acid transporter (Asbt), but the identity of the primary transporter responsible for moving bile acids across the basolateral membrane of the ileocyte has remained a mystery, although not for a lack of protein pretenders to the throne. Recent insights from transcriptional profiling studies of wild-type and Asbt-deficient mice indicate that a complex formed by the organic solute carrier proteins alpha and beta (Ostalpha and Ostbeta) is the primary transporter for basolateral bile acid transport.
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