Altered bile acid metabolism in nonobese, spontaneously diabetic (NOD) mice

Cholesterol and bile acid metabolism was examined in nonobese, spontaneously diabetic (NOD) female mice before and after the development of diabetes. After the development of glucosuria, the plasma and liver cholesterol levels, gallbladder bile weight after 5-h fasting, biliary cholesterol, phospholipid and bile acid concentrations, the lithogenic index, the pool size of bile acids, and fecal sterol excretion markedly increased, but fecal bile acid excretion and fractional turnover rates for the cholic acid and chenodeoxycholic acid groups decreased. The distribution percentage of bile acids in the small intestine did not change, but it increased in the gallbladder and decreased in the large intestine. One striking finding was a change in the bile acid composition: increases were recorded in cholic and deoxycholic acids while decreases occurred in bile acids derived from chenodeoxycholic acid, such as beta-muricholic and ursodeoxycholic acids in the bile and alpha-muricholic, beta-muricholic, omega-muricholic, and hyodeoxycholic acids in the feces. Therefore, the cholic acid group/chenodeoxycholic acid group (CA/CDCA) ratio increased in the bile, feces, and small and large intestines after the development of diabetes. These changes were very similar to those observed in alloxan-treated mice, suggesting that the changes found in NOD mice are caused by insulin deficiency.