Gallbladder bile composition in different ethnic groups
Oviedo, M.A.; Ho, K.J.; Biss, K.; Soong, S.J.; Mikkelson, B.; Taylor, C.B.
Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 101(4): 208-212
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-9985 PMID: 576789 Document Number: 114714
A total of 194 gallbladder bile samples were examined. The solubility of cholesterol in bile depended mainly on the relative amounts of phospholipid and bile salt present. Bile from patients with gallstones was usually supersaturated with cholesterol above the level of the metastable state. Bile from normal white persons in Finland, New Zealand and USA were in the metastable state of supersaturation with cholesterol. The Masai of East Africa and black persons in USA had a bile level below the limit of maximum cholesterol solubility. The difference in the prevalence of cholesterol cholelithiasis in different ethnic groups is related to the difference in their bile composition which might, in turn, be controlled by some genetic and other yet unidentified factors.