Abstract
Summary
Hyocholic acid effectively prevented accumulation of dietary cholesterol in mice fed diets supplemented with cholesterol but had little or no effect on tissue cholesterol concentrations in mice fed normal diets. Treating mice with antibiotics largely reversed the effect of hyocholic acid, and permitted the accumulation of dietary cholesterol in hyocholic acid-treated mice. It was demonstrated that the hypocholesteremic effect is probably mediated by hyodeoxycholic acid, which arises from the action of intestinal bacteria on hyocholic acid. In animals which received hyocholic or hyodeoxycholic acid, cholic acid disappeared from the bile acid spectrum of the small intestine. Treatment with antibiotics restored cholic acid to the bile acid spectrum of hyocholic acid-treated mice but not to that of hyodeoxycholic acid-treated mice.
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