Cholesterol removal
Uptake of cholesterol in the medium containing cholic acid, oxbile and sodium taurocholate was highest, intermediate and least, respectively with majority of isolates (Fig. 1). Medium having cholic acid, the overall cholesterol removal was observed to be highest for isolates 55 and 72 (upto 38%) whereas isolates 70 and 76 showed least cholesterol removal (8.52% and 4.24% respectively). Cholesterol removal for medium containing oxbile varied from 1.14% to 19% although isolate 11 demonstrated higher cholesterol assimilation of 19.75%. Strain P1 had significantly highest cholesterol removal in cholic acid than compared to oxbile and sodium taurocholate.