Clofibrate, Caloric Restriction, Supersaturation of Bile, and Cholesterol Crystals

Abstract

Lipid composition, cholesterol saturation and cholesterol crystal formation of gallbladder bile were studied in 7 type IV hyperlipoproteinemic subjects who did not have gallstones. Thereafter, biliary cholesterol solubilization was overloaded, first by clofibrate and then by caloric restriction treatment. Initially increased cholesterol saturation was still increased by both clofibrate and caloric restriction treatment, but none of the subjects developed cholesterol crystals in bile, indicating that they had a mechanism to maintain cholesterol in solution in the bile despite remarkable supersaturation. The patients who are at risk of developing gallstones can proably be better selected by cholesterol crystal analysis of bile samples than by analysis of lipid composition of bile.