The aim of the study was to evaluate the metabolism of individual bile acids in patients with cholesterol gallstone disease. Therefore, we determined pool size and turnover of deoxycholic (DCA), cholic (CA), and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) in 23 female gallstone patients classified according to their gallbladder function and in 15 healthy female controls. Gallstone patients had normal hepatic bile acid synthesis, but, depending on gallbladder function, differed with respect to turnover and size of the bile acid pools: Patients with well-emptying gallbladder (group A, n = 9) had enhanced turnover and reduced pools of CA (-46%; P < 0.01 vs. controls) and CDCA (-24%; P < 0.05), but normal input and size of the DCA pool. With reduced gallbladder emptying (< 50% of volume; group B, n = 6), turnover and pools of CA, CDCA, and DCA were similar as in controls. Patients with loss ofgallbladder reservoir (group C, n = 8) had increased input (+100%; P < 0.01) and pool size of DCA (+45%; P = 0.07) caused by rapid conversion of CA to DCA, while the pools of CA (-71%; P < 0.001 vs. controls) and CDCA (-36%; P < 0.05) were reduced by enhanced turnover. Thus, in patients with cholesterol gallstones, the pools of primary bile acids are diminished, unless gallbladder emptying is reduced. Furthermore, in a subgroup of gallstone patients, who had completely lost gallbladder function, the CA pool is largely replaced by DCA owing to rapid transfer of CA to the DCA pool. This probably contributes to supersaturation of bile with cholesterol. (J. Clin. Invest. 1992. 90:859-868.) Key words: bile acid metabolism * cholesterol gallstone disease * deoxycholic acid -gallbladder emptying . cholesterol saturation of bile IntroductionIn most nonobese patients with cholesterol gallstones, the pools of cholic acid (CA)' and chenodeoxycholic (CDCA) are reduced ( 1-6), and deoxycholic acid (DCA) is often increased in bile (7). Both changes could contribute to supersaturation of bile with cholesterol ( 1, 7, 1. Abbreviations used in this paper: CA, cholic acid; CCK, cholecystokinin; CDCA, chenodeoxycholic acid; DCA, deoxycholic acid; FTR, fractional turnover rate. circulation (9), the increase ofDCA by raising biliary secretion of cholesterol ( 10).The small pools ofCA and CDCA may be caused by a small gallbladder reservoir ( 1 1), by enhanced turnover (2, 5), or by inhibition of bile acid synthesis by an oversensitive feedback mechanism ( 1 2) or by elevated levels of DCA ( 13,14). An increased fraction ofDCA in bile could be caused by high input and large pool size of DCA. CA is nearly completely 7a-dehydroxylated to DCA by anaerobic bacteria in the colon (7,15,16), but only 30-40% of this DCA is absorbed from the intestine ( 17 ). The DCA pool could be expanded by increased input of DCA owing to increased synthesis ofthe precursor CA or to an increased fraction of CA transferred to the DCA pool.It is still unclear which of the above factors account(s) for the reduction in CA and CDCA pool size and which for an increase in biliary DCA. ...