Whenever you load the cart page in Magento, the following code is run
$cart->init();
$cart->save();
One side effect of this is that the prices for any items in the cart are updated if the price of the product has been updated. This actually updates the entry in sales_flat_quote_item. I'm trying to track down where in code the price is updated on each quote item, and where each quote item is saved.
I know the myrid locations it could be set. I'm hoping someone knows where it actually is set. Magento 1.7x branch specifically, although info from all versions is welcome.