An in vivo Comparison of Two Bile Salt Binding Agents, Cholestyramine and Lignin

In 2 normal subjects, studied after administration of radioactive taurocholate, cholestyramine markedly accelerated the loss of labelled bile salts from the bile and caused an elevation of the glycine/taurine conjugation ratio and of the tri-hydroxy/di-hydroxy bile salt ratio. These effects are consistent with its known bile salt binding activity. Lignin, a new bile salt binding agent effective in vitro, had no convincing effect in studies on 3 subjects. It is suggested that the hydrophobic bonding postulated for lignin is too weak to sequestrate circulating bile acids.