AN ESTIMATION OF HUMAN BILE METASTABILITY - CLINICAL-APPLICATION OF ASENSITIVE CHOLESTEROL CRYSTAL-GROWTH ASSAY

The formation of cholesterol monohydrate crystal initiates cholesterol gallstone formation. The nucleation time (NT), a light microscopy met hod, is used currently to estimate human bile metastability. Recently, a cholesterol crystal growth (CCG) assay utilizing photometric turbid ity to quantitate cholesterol crystallization was developed using mode l bile systems. The object of this study was to determine whether this novel CCG assay was applicable to the quantitative assessment of nati ve human bile metastability. Human gall-bladder bile samples were coll ected from patients undergoing cholecystectomy. There were five patien ts with cholesterol gallstone and five stone-free patients. A signific ant correlation between the onset time measured by the CCG assay and t he NT observed by light microscopy was found in our modified assay con dition where interference by bilirubin was negligible (P < 0.01). Also , the growth rate measured by the CCG assay significantly correlated w ith the NT (P < 0.05). These results indicate that the CCG assay is ap plicable to quantitative assessment of human bile metastability reflec ted by cholesterol crystal nucleation and that the cholesterol crystal growth is also conveniently estimated by this method.