Mechanism of cholesterol gallstone dissolution. III. Electrophoretic studies showing the correlation between the bile micellarcharge and the effect of alkyl amines as cholesterol gallstone dissolution rate accelerators

We have shown that the cholesterol monohydrate dissolution rate acceleration in chenodeoxycholic acid solutions due to the addition of hexylamine and octylamine may be directly related to their ability to bind to the negatively charged chenodeoxycholate micelles. Based on these results, we have proposed that the primary mechanism by which these amines accelerate the dissolution rate is by reducing the micellar charge. An independent test of the above hypothesis was carried out by measuring the electrophoretic mobility of chenodeoxycholate micelles as a function of the amine concentration utilizing the moving boundary electrophoresis method in the presence of and absence of 0.1 M sodium chloride. At the concentrations of hexylamine and octylamine which gave the same dissolution rate, J/A, i.e., at equal efficacy, the electrophoretic mobilities were found to be the same. These results verify our hypothesis that the primary mechanism by which these amines accelerate the dissolution rate is by reducing the micellar charge. In addition, particle microelectrophoresis studies showed no significant surface charge variation with cholesterol particles as a function of amine concentration.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23303/1/0000241.pd