Ursodeoxycholic acid improves gastrointestinal motility defects in gallstone patients

Table 1 Characteristics of gallstone patients (GS) and healthy controls

Characteristics	GS (n = 10)	Controls (n = 10)	P
Gender
Male	4	4
Female	6	6
Age (yr)
Mean ± SE	49.5 ± 2.3	50.5 ± 1.4	NS
Range	30-63	28-61
BMI (kg/m2 )
Mean ± SE	23.0 ± 0.8	22.8 ± 0.4	NS
Range	21-28	20-29
Biliary colic	10/10	0/10
Gallstones
n (single/multiple)	3/7
Size (< 1.5 cm)	10/10

NS: Not significant.

Table 2 Baseline biochemical parameters in gallstone patients (GS) and controls (mean ± SD)

Biochemical parameter	GS (n = 10)	Controls (n = 10)	P
Serum creatinine (mg/dL)	0.98 ± 0.25	0.96 ± 0.21	NS
Blood nitrogen (mg/dL)	39.4 ± 13.0	37.7 ± 10.6	NS
AST (IU/I)	23.2 ± 15.0	21.3 ± 12.7	NS
ALT (IU/I)	23.9 ± 14.6	21.8 ± 11.6	NS
AP (IU/I)	147.3 ± 63.2	150 ± 60.5	NS
γGT (IU/I)	28.0 ± 18.0	30.2 ± 15.8	NS
Total proteins (g/dL)	6.8 ± 0.57	6.9 ± 0.58	NS
Total cholesterol (mg/dL)	185.0 ± 38.5	178.4 ± 35	NS
Fasting triglycerides (mg/dL)	141.7 ± 30.8	138.5 ± 27.2	NS
Fasting glucose (mg/dL)	96.8 ± 12.0	95.3 ± 11.4	NS

NS: Not significant.

Table 3 Fasting and residual gallbladder volumes, and percent gallbladder emptying before and after ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and placebo administration in gallstone patients (n = 10) and healthy controls (n = 10)

	Basal	UDCA	Placebo	P2
Fasting Volume (mL):
Controls	18.8 (0.9)	22.9 (0.6)	19.1 (0.9)	0.001
Gallstones	23.5 (0.9)	26.2 (0.5)	24.1 (0.9)
P1	0.0001
Residual Volume (mL):
Controls	4.7 (0.8)	6.4 (0.7)	4.9 (0.7)	0.003
Gallstones	8.5 (0.3)	11.0 (1.0)	8.5 (0.2)
P1	0.0001
Gallbladder emptying (%)
Controls	76 (2.3)	71.9 (3.2)	74.5 (2.2)	0.066
Gallstones	63.8 (2.4)	59.5 (3.3)	61.6 (2.2)
P1	0.001

Repeated measures Analysis of Variance.

¹ From testing between controls and gallstone patients overall across all treatment; ² For testing the treatment effect (basal, UDCA, placebo).

Table 4 Relationship between serum bile acids and intestinal transit time (OITT), gastric half emptying time (t½ min ) and gallbladder emptying (%) in gallstone patients (n = 10) and healthy controls (n = 10) (univariate analysis)

	OITT(min)		Gastric emptying(t½, min)		Gallbladder emptying(%)
	r	P	r	P	r	P
CA	-0.696	0.001	-0.118	0.62	0.44	0.05
DCA	0.887	0.0001	0.503	0.024	-0.617	0.004
CDCA	-0.728	0.0001	-0.547	0.012	0.594	0.006

CA: Cholic acid; DCA: Deoxycholic acid; CDCA: Chenodeoxycholic acid.