Biodynamics of cholesterol and bile acids in the lithiasic hamster

By using the isotopic equilibrium method in the young male Syrian hamster, the rates of cholesterol turnover processes, i.e. dietary cholesterol absorption, cholesterol synthesis, cholesterol excretion in the faeces and urine and cholesterol transformation into bile acids, were determined in the hamster receiving a control (C) or a lithogenic diet (L) for 7 weeks. At the end of this period the gall bladder of all animals in group L contained cholesterol gallstones. The coefficient of dietary cholesterol absorption was reduced by 26%, cholesterol synthesis and cholesterol faecal excretion were twofold higher in group L than in group C. Bile acid content in the small intestine was diminished in group L, but bile acid composition was similar in the two groups. The increase in cholesterogenesis in lithiasic animals essentially took place in the liver. Bile acid biosynthesis did not significantly differ in the two groups, but represented only 35% of total cholesterol input (dietary absorption + internal secretion) in group L v. 52% in group C. Thus, in the lithiasic hamster, hepatic synthesis of cholesterol and bile acids are not coupled. The molar percentage of cholesterol in bile was twofold higher in group L than in group C but those of bile acids and of phospholipids were not modified. In the lithiasic hamster the specific activity of biliary cholesterol was similar to that in plasma and liver. Consequently, biliary cholesterol does not derive directly from cholesterol newly synthesized in the liver but from hepatic cholesterol rapidly exchangeable with plasma cholesterol.