Abstract
The adsorption characteristics of bile salt anions to spherical charcoal (Kremezin®) were studied in vitro and then compared with those to powdered medicinal charcoal and an anionexchange resin, cholestyramine, from the standpoint of its possible usefulness for sequestering bile salts in the intestine. The adsorption equilibria of bile salts to medicinal charcoal and cholestyramine in 2 nd fluid JP X III were rapidly achieved within the first hr of incubation, whereas the adsorption process to spherical charcoal was very slow and continued even after 168 hrs.
Based on the data of 24-hr batch adsorption experiments under the conditions containing various additives, spherical charcoal was shown to have adsorptive capacities for bile salts to some extent, namely the power of spherical charcoal seemed to be almost equal for trihydroxy bile acids and approximately 30% for dihydroxy analogs, compared with those of medicinal charcoal and cholestyramine. These results suggest the possibilities of spherical charcoal as an oral adsorbent for further medical applications to diseases in addition to chronic renal failure, which bile salts in the gastrointestinal tract are involved in, such as hypercholesterolemia, pruritus, Crohn's disease, primary biliary cirrhosis and others.
