The process of cholesterol cholelithiasis induced by diet in the prairie dog: a physicochemical characterization.

The rapid induction of cholesterol cholelithiasis in a new experimental model, the prairie dog, has recently been reported by two groups. In this model they were able to induce gallstones in as brief a period as 2 weeks, using a 1.2 per cent cholesterol diet. This unprecedented time intensity or telescoping of the induction process provided a unique opportunity for observation of physicochemical changes occurring rapidly over a short period of time and to correlate these with degree of biliary cholesterol saturation. To make such observations, 97 adult male and female prairie dogs were used in the present study. Seventy-two were fed the high cholesterol diet and sacrificed at intervals over a 14-day period; the remaining 25 were used as controls. The primary objective of this work was to determine whether or not there was any relationship between the in vivo events induced in prairie dog bile and our recently reported detailed observations of cholesterol precipitation phenomena in synthetic bile analogs. In these studies, solutions of physiologically relevant composition were constructed, which, when plotted according to convention on a tri-linear graph, fell within the zone of metastable or suspended supersaturation. These solutions revealed a consistent and previously undescribed liquid crystal to solid crystal phase transition during their approach to equilibrium at 37 degrees C. The in vivo studies of prairie dog bile following rapid induction of supersaturation revealed identical changes. At first, the supersaturated biles were isotropic followed by a period of turbidity and invariable formation of mesophase. After a few days, the liquid crystals decreased and solid cholesterol crystallites appeared. The most striking aspect of these observations is that the in vitro work has now predicted not only static, but dynamic processes as well, with respect to cholesterol precipitation beginning with the metastably supersaturated state and eventuating in gallstone formation. Ancillary new findings, resulting from the high cholesterol diet, included the induction of human-like hyper-beta-lipoproteinemia and rapid hepatocyte degranulation shown by electron microscopy.