Abstract
Changes in plasma bile acid and bilirubin concentrations, bile flow, biliary lipid levels and bile acid composition were examined for 14 days after intra-duodenal release of bile in rats in which the bile duct had been ligated for 1 and 2 weeks. Plasma bile acid concentration rapidly decreased to the normal range after release of the bile duct obstruction but the recovery of plasma bilirubin concentration, especially in the 2-week ligated rats, was delayed. Bile flow once decreased on day-1 of the release, but turned to increase in the 1-week ligated rats showing a value twice that of normal days 5-7 and gradually decreased to the normal range thereafter. The bile flow in the 2-week ligated rats gradually recovered to the normal level after the decrease on day-1 without any increase on days 5-7. Biliary bile acid levels once decreased on day-1 but showed a marked increase around day-7, and then returned to the normal level in the 1-week ligated ras, but the biliary bile acid levels in the 2-week ligated rats gradually recovered after the first decrease. These results suggest that the changes in bile flow and biliary bile acid levels in cholestatic rats are normalized after the release of obstruction when the obstruction period is short but actually not when the period is long, that is 2 weeks or more.
