The effect of bile and of sodium taurocholate on the epithelial cell dynamics of the rat small intestine.

The absence of bile from the intestinal lumen of rats for a period of 48 hr led to: a decreased proliferative cell pool, reduced cell shedding, and a 50% decrease of the labeling index in the ileum. The constant duodenal perfusion of Na taurocholate for periods of 48, 60, 72, and 96 hr in animals with a biliary diversion was associated with: deepening of crypts and decreased crypt/villus ratios as well as with acceleration of the epithelial cell migration rate on the crypt-villus units. The data suggest that bile and bile acids constitute important regulatory factors influencing enterocyte proliferation, migration and loss.