Quasielastic light scattering evidence for vesicular secretion of biliary lipids

We employed quasielastic light scattering, negative-stain, and freeze-fracture electron microscopy to study the time-dependent physicochemical behavior of biliary lipids in fresh rat bile. Three to five minutes after bile collection, the earliest light scattering measurements and electron microscopy revealed unilamellar vesicles (mean hydrodynamic radius, Rh = 430-740 A) coexisting with mixed micelles (Rh = 20-120 A) in all biles. Both percent biliary vesicles (1 to greater than 70%) and micellar sizes varied inversely with bile salt concentration (range 1.6-72 mM) both during endogenous pool drainage and sodium taurocholate infusion. With bile salt concentrations in the vicinity of or below the estimated critical micellar concentration, biliary vesicle concentrations remained constant or increased slightly with passage of time. However, with micellar bile salt concentrations, complete conversion of vesicles to micelles occurred at rates that were directly proportional to bile salt concentration. Back-extrapolation of weighted Rh averages of micelles plus vesicles as functions of time gave sizes of approximately 470 A at 1 min, suggesting the predominance of homogeneously sized unilamellar vesicles at the earliest stages of bile formation. After micellization of lipids, mixed protein aggregates of vesicle size were demonstrated in all biles. These experiments elucidate the dynamic coexistence of lipid vesicles and mixed micelles in cholesterol unsaturated biles and demonstrate that vesicle-to-micelle interconversions of biliary lipid aggregates are normal physiological phenomena within the biliary tree.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)