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Updated: May 12, 2026

Ileectomy-induced Bile Overaccumulation in Mouse Intestine
Published on: August 21, 2017
Intestinal SR-BI does not impact cholesterol absorption or transintestinal cholesterol efflux in mice
Kanwardeep S Bura1, Caleb Lord1, Stephanie Marshall1
1Department of Pathology, Section on Lipid Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC.
Abstract:
Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) can proceed through the classic hepatobiliary route or through the nonbiliary transintestinal cholesterol efflux (TICE) pathway. Scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI) plays a critical role in the classic hepatobiliary route of RCT. However, the role of SR-BI in TICE has not been studied. To examine the role of intestinal SR-BI in TICE, sterol balance was measured in control mice and mice transgenically overexpressing SR-BI in the proximal small intestine (SR-BI(hApoCIII-ApoAIV-Tg)). SR-BI(hApoCIII-ApoAIV-Tg) mice had significantly lower plasma cholesterol levels compared with wild-type controls, yet SR-BI(hApoCIII-ApoAIV-Tg) mice had normal fractional cholesterol absorption and fecal neutral sterol excretion. Both in the absence or presence of ezetimibe, intestinal SR-BI overexpression had no impact on the amount of cholesterol excreted in the feces. To specifically study effects of intestinal SR-BI on TICE we crossed SR-BI(hApoCIII-ApoAIV-Tg) mice into a mouse model that preferentially utilized the TICE pathway for RCT (Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 liver transgenic), and likewise found no alterations in cholesterol absorption or fecal sterol excretion. Finally, mice lacking SR-BI in all tissues also exhibited normal cholesterol absorption and fecal cholesterol disposal. Collectively, these results suggest that SR-BI is not rate limiting for intestinal cholesterol absorption or for fecal neutral sterol loss through the TICE pathway.
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