Bile acid synthesis in isolated rat hepatocytes.

Normal adult rat hepatocytes were incubated for 48h and the concentration of total and individual bile acids in homogenized samples of the culture was measured at intervals during the incubation, using radiogas chromatography and isotope derivative assay. The net increase in bile acids over the value observed at the start of the culture was taken as synthesis. The results showed that bile acid synthesis was linear up to 24h of incubation, at a rate of 20nmol/g hepatocytes per hour, and that 85% of the newly synthesized bile acid was cholic acid. The bile acid synthesized was mainly conjugated with taurine. These results suggest that isolated hepatocytes cultured in the way described could be a useful in vitro model for the study of bile acid synthesis.