Cholesterol Kinetics in Patients with Cholesterol Gallstones before and during Chenodeoxycholic Acid Treatment

Abstract

Pedersen, L., Arnfred, T. & Hess Thaysen. E. Cholesterol kinetics in patients with cholesterol gallstones before and during chenodeoxycholic acid treatment. Scand. J. Gastroent. 1974, 9, 787–791.

The cholesterol kinetics in 4 patients with radiolucent gallstones were studied by means of isotope dilution technique before and after 3 months’ treatment with 500 mg chenodeoxycholic acid (CDC) daily. Upon intravenous administration of 30 µCi of l-alpha-2-alpha-3H-cholesterol, the decay curve of the specific activities was analysed according to a two-pool model. The means of the rapidly miscible pool A, the more slowly miscible pool B, and the input into pool A were diminished by 19, 8, and 40%, respectively, during treatment. Even if the results are not conclusive, they suggest that the supposed risk of cholesterol accumulation during CDC therapy is minimal, if present at all.

Key-words::

• Bile acids
• chenodeoxycholic acid
• cholesterol
• gallstones
• pool size
• turnover rate