Effect of various bile salts on calcium concentration and calcium carbonate saturation of rat bile.

To establish whether the calcium-binding capacities of the bile salts play an essential role in their stimulatory effects on biliary calcium secretion, we compared (1) the effects of tauro- and glycoconjugates of ursodeoxycholate (TUDC-GUDC) and cholate (TC-GC) on biliary calcium in bile fistula rats, and (2) the in vitro calcium-binding capacities of mixed micelles containing the same bile salts. The increase of biliary calcium depended on the infused bile salt in the following order: GUDC greater than GC = TUDC greater than GC). The same order was obtained in vitro, so that there was a linear relationship between the slopes of the [Ca] vs. [bile salts] regression lines in vivo and the binding percentages of the four bile salts. Biliary ionized calcium concentration was almost independent of bile salt concentration. However, hepatic bile was supersaturated with calcium carbonate in the presence of the four bile salts. Our results suggest that biliary calcium concentration increases in relation to the calcium-binding capacity of the various bile acids so that ionized biliary calcium remains in equilibrium with plasma. As a result, bile saturation with calcium is almost completely independent of bile salt secretion.