Abstract
The feeding of chenodeoxycholic acid or lithocholic acid (0.05 or 0.5% of the diet) to rabbits produced cirrhotic and necrotic changes in the liver, accompanied by an increase of secondary bile acids in bile. Animals fed 0.05% lithocholic acid, 0.05% or 0.5% chenodeoxycholic acid, but not those receiving 0.5% lithocholic acid were able to survive for a period of 21 days. The most severe cirrhotic and necrotic changes were observed in the rabbits fed either 0.5% lithocholic acid or 0.5% chenodeoxycholic acid for 6 days or longer. Liver damage appeared to correlate with bile composition. The pathologic involvement was greatest whenever the percentage of lithocholic acid in the bile exceeded 15%. It is concluded that chenodeoxycholic acid (which is not a major constituent of rabbit bile) exerts its hepatotoxic effects largely because it is converted to lithocholic acid by the intestinal bacterial flora.
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Supported in Part by Research Grants AM 05222 and HL 10894 from the National Institutes of Health; GB 31919 X from the National Science Foundation, and grants from the Louise and Bernard Palitz Research Foundation and the IPD Corporation.
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Fischer, C.D., Cooper, N.S., Rothschild, M.A. et al. Effect of dietary chenodeoxycholic acid and lithocholic acid in the rabbit. Digest Dis Sci 19, 877–886 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01076210
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01076210