Transport behavior of four bile salt micelles and cholesterol solubilized by their micelles across porous membrane

 The transport behavior of bile salts (BSs) solubilizing cholesterol (Ch) or none across an artificial membrane was investigated for sodium salts of deoxycholic acid (NaDC), chenodeoxycholic acid (NaCDC), ursodeoxycholic acid (NaUDC) and cholic acid (NaC) in tetraborate–carbonate buffer solution at pH 10.0 and 37 °C. The study demonstrated that the surfactant properties such as critical micellization concentration (CMC) and micellar size or diffusion coefficient were determinable from the flux or permeability measurements. The comparison among the respective pure systems of BSs led to a conclusion that the micellar size was in the order of NaDC>NaCDC>NaUDC>NaC and determined CMC values were in agreement with those in literature.