AJP - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, Vol 250, Issue 3 295-G301, Copyright © 1986 by American Physiological Society
Enterohepatic circulation of bile acids in pigs: diurnal pattern and effect of a reentrant biliary fistula
V. Legrand-Defretin, C. Juste, T. Corring and A. Rerat
The present studies were undertaken 1) to assess the quantitative
absorption of total bile acids in the portal vein of normally fed,
unanesthetized pigs with an intact biliary tract and 2) to evaluate the
effect of a chronic reentrant biliary fistula on absorption. In the intact
biliary tract group (5 pigs), mean total bile acid concentration averaged
83.9 +/- 2.0 and 15.6 +/- 0.6 microM in portal and arterial blood,
respectively, and 216.9 +/- 20.4 mmol of total bile acids were absorbed
over 24 h. Time courses of blood concentration and absorption were
described all along the light-dark cycle, and hepatic uptake averaged 79.3
+/- 0.5%. A reentrant choledocal fistula in the upper duodenum (5 pigs) did
not affect mean daily blood concentrations (87.5 +/- 2.4 and 19.1 +/- 0.8
microM in portal and arterial blood, respectively), daily absorption (226.4
+/- 23.7 mmol, i.e., 93.5% of the daily secretion), or hepatic uptake (76.4
+/- 1.1%), but it did seem to influence the daily kinetics of blood
concentration and absorption. These studies supply quantitative and kinetic
data about the absorptive stage of the enterohepatic cycle in pigs and show
that a bile fistula is suitable for the study of biliary dynamics.
