State of Bile Acids in the Intestinal Lumen

An investigation of the distribution of the dehydroxylation products of cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids by mixed human fecal microorganisms in vitro (27) has shown that lithocholic acid (formed by the bacterial dehydroxy lation of chenodeoxycholic acid) was recovered almost entirely in the 

As will be discussed below, the fecal bile acid excretion of germfree subjects is only one-half that of comparable conventional subjects. Wost-mann (unpublished data) has observed that the biliary bile acid flow in the germfree rat was three times greater than in the conventional rat. Since the pool sizes were essentially similar (22), this implies that the absorptive capacity and the number of cycles through the enterohepatic system were markedly greater in germfree rats than in conventional rats. 

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