Primate biliary physiology. IX. Effects of acute biliary obstruction on biliary lipid metabolism in the monkey

Healthy, fed rhesus monkeys with exteriorized enterohepatic circulations (EHC) were subjected to short periods of biliary obstruction by clamping their bile T tubes. Pre and postobstruction bile acid synthetic rates were determined by the marker dilution technique after the bile salt pool was labeled with cholic acid ¹⁴C and/or the secondary bile salt, deoxycholic acid. After relief of obstruction the bile salt pool was collected by total biliary diversion until the marker was completely retrieved or the EHC reestablished and biliary lipid secretion rates and relative concentrations were determined. Individual urinary and serum bile salts were also followed throughout the experiment. Bile acid synthesis was suppressed in animals obstructed for more than 6 hr and remained inhibited for up to 10 hr after relief of obstruction. During obstruction, the majority of the bile salt pool was retained in the liver. In monkeys with reestablished EHC following obstruction, bile salt secretion rates remained suppressed while those of phospholipid and cholesterol were enhanced, so that bile with decreased cholesterol holding capacity was secreted for several days after relief of obstruction.