The liver and the gallbladder are the two organs that have been considered responsible for the secretion of cholesterol supersaturated bile. In order to find whether cholesterol supersaturated bile is produced by the liver or by the gallbladder we decided to study a group of patients with cholesterol gallstones before and one year ofter cholecystectomy. We examined changes in the concentration of total cholesterol, cholesterol esters, HDL-cholesterol, phospholipids, bile acids and calcibilia. We found that concentrations of total cholesterol, phospholipids and bile acids in hepatic bile one year after cholecystectomy were reduced and represented the values within the normal range. The postoperative saturation index of bile decreased below 1 in all the patients included in the study i.e. it was equal to the index found in normal subjests. HDL-cholesterol increases in bile after the operation may support the hypothesis on the protective function of high density lipoproteids in gallstone formation. We did not confirm the presence of calcium saturaton of bile in patients with gallstones.
Conclusions: In patients with gallstones lipid composition of bile returns to normal one year after cholecystectomy.

Keywords: Cholecystectomy, chemical composition of bile, saturation index of bile