Intrahepatic biliary cholesterol and phospholipid transport in humans: effect of obesity and cholesterol cholelithiasis.

The mode of transport of biliary lipids within the hepatocyte and the role of the bile canalicular membrane (BCM) in biliary lipid secretion are not well understood. We hypothesized that biliary cholesterol and phospholipid are co-transported across the hepatocyte in vesicular form from the endoplasmic reticulum to the bile across the BCM. We obtained wedge liver biopsies and fasting gallbladder bile from 15 cholesterol gallstone patients and 10 control subjects. BCM, basolateral membrane (BLM), and many microsomal vesicular fractions were isolated by centrifugation. One of the vesicular fractions (V3) was enriched in both the microsomal and the BCM marker enzymes and had a high phosphatidylcholine proportion in its phospholipid with a fatty acid pattern similar to biliary phosphatidylcholine. Moreover, its cholesterol content was increased in the obese cholesterol gallstone subjects, who had an increase in cholesterol synthesis, as indicated by the increased activity of the HMG-CoA reductase. The cholesterol content correlated with HMG-CoA reductase activity. A direct correlation was found between cholesterol/phospholipid ratio in V3, BCM, and in bile but not in the BLM. These data are in agreement with the assumption that this vesicular fraction is involved in the transport of cholesterol and phospholipid from the endoplasmic reticulum to the site of secretion in the BCM, and thence to bile, and that this transport is enhanced in obese gallstone patients.