Rapid Vesicle Formation and Aggregation in Abnormal Human Biles

Rapid nucleation of cholesterol crystals has previously been shown to provide a sharp discrimination between abnormal (cholesterol gallstone-associated] and normal human gallbladder bile. In the present study, we sought to further clarify the crystal nucleation process by time-lapse microscopy using a novel high-resolution video-enhanced microscopy technique. Using a previously described method for removal of particles from abnormal biles, we found a strikingly rapid rate of de nova formation of unilamellar vesicles, soon followed by massive vesicular aggregation, culminating in crystal formation. In normal biles, by contrast, this rapid aggregation process was not observed and the isolated