Ileal reclamation of bile salts is mediated in large part by an apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) located in the terminal ileum. The following studies were performed to elucidate the adaptive response of ASBT to intestinal resection. Two separate series of intestinal resections were performed: 1) limited (25%) ileal and 2) massive (70%) intestinal resection. The boundaries of the resections were varied to examine differences in compensation when variable amounts of endogenous transporter activity were resected. Previously demonstrated supraphysiologic expression of ASBT, which was seen after proximal ileal resection, led to a contraction in the bile acid pool size and a paradoxical reduction in bile acid (cholesterol 7␣-hydroxylase and sterol 27-hydroxylase) and cholesterol (hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase) biosynthetic enzyme activities. Massive intestinal resection resulted in ileal hypertrophy and an apparently maladaptive specific downregulation in ASBT protein expression. In this model bile acid pool size correlated with the amount of residual ASBTexpressing terminal ileum. Cholesterol and bile acid biosynthetic enzyme activities were inversely related to bile acid pool size. Intestinal bile acid absorption in the rat primarily takes place in the terminal ileum. At least two specific proteins appear to mediate this process; one of these is ASBT, which facilitates uptake of bile acid from the ileal lumen (1). The other protein is ILBP, which binds bile acids within the enterocyte. It has been shown from previous studies on rats that bile acid transporter gene expression occurs predominantly in the terminal 30 cm of small intestine (2). Therefore, distal but not proximal native ileum expresses ASBT. After limited (25% of total small bowel length) resection, transport and expression were found only in the remaining portions of terminal ileum.Certain conditions affecting the gastrointestinal tract may require extensive intestinal resection as a treatment, which may eventually result in short gut. Examples of these conditions include necrotizing enterocolitis, Crohn's disease, midgut volvulus, mesenteric vascular disease, intestinal atresia, and irradiation or cancer (3). Within 24 to 48 h after a bowel resection, the remaining small intestine begins to undergo an adaptive process characterized by epithelial hyperplasia. As this process progresses, villi lengthen and intestinal absorptive surface area increases as much as 4-fold. Enhancement of digestive and absorptive function may lag behind the increase in mucosal surface area. As the jejunum normally has more absorptive capacity, the ability of the ileum to adapt is greater than that of the jejunum (4).Many processes are deranged in short gut syndrome, one of which is the interruption in the normal enterohepatic circulation of bile acids caused by loss of bile acid transport capacity.