56 Suggestions to Teachers of Biochemistry [Sept. 



Cholesterol is a conspictious constituent of blood corpuscles. 

 Cholesterol esters ("esterols") occur in blood plasma. Bile pig- 

 ments result from the hepatic decomposition of hemoglobin, and 

 cholesterol is doubtless removed simultaneously from the disorgan- 

 ized erythrocytes. Bile contains soaps, which may arise from the 

 cholesterol esters by hepatic saponification. 



Some of the available cholesterol appears to be transformed in 

 the liver, by oxidation in part, into cholic acids. Cholic acids, in 

 turn, are combined in the liver with amino-acids, such as glycocol 

 and taurin, which are present there in abundance. These conjugate 

 acids are further united in the liver with basic Clements such as 

 sodium. The "bile salts" that result from these unions dissolve 

 readily in water, physiological salt Solution, cell plasm, lymph, 

 blood, and bile. The soaps and bile salts in the hepatic cells favor 

 the Solution of associated unchanged cholesterol, which accompanies 

 these substances in the bile to the intestine. 



Cholic acids and bile salts originate in the Hver. Neither cholic 

 acid nor a simple salt of it occurs normally in the blood. The small 

 proportions of bile salts which appear in the circulation are directly 

 or indirectly hepatic in origin. In the light of these additional 

 facts we believe that the above suggestions point the way to an 

 understanding of the biochemical derivation of bile salts. 



It is possible, in this view of the probable relationship between 

 cholesterol and bile salts, that cholesterol gall stones arise when, 

 among other causes, the normal transformation of cholesterol into 

 bile salts is materially diminished in degree, with a consequent 

 marked increase in the concentration of cholesterol in the bile. 



Research along the lines of these suggestions promises interest- 

 ing and important results. 



