bile acids analysis feces

Bile acids analysis feces
Bile acids are a large family of steroids, which has a carboxyl group in the side chain. They
are predominantly found in the bile of mammals and other vertebrates. In the liver, bile acids
can conjugate with taurine or glycine and form bile salts. Chenodeoxycholic acid and cholic
acid are the most abundant bile acids in human bile and they are the primary bile acids
synthesized in the liver. Deoxycholic and lithocholic acids are the major secondary bile acids
and they are formed by the action of intestinal bacterial bacteria on primary bile acids.
Metabolism of bile acids plays an important role in maintaining and regulating cholesterol
homeostasis. About 500 mg of cholesterol is converted to bile salts every day in a healthy
adult human. The major pathway for the synthesis of the bile acids in the liver, starts from the
conversion of 7alpha-hydroxycholesterol from of cholesterol, while the alternative pathway of
bile salt synthesis begins with the formation of 27-hydroxycholesterol or oxysterol-24-
hydroxycholesterol. In extra-hepatic tissues, the intermediates generated in these two
pathways can be converted to bile salts. These extra-hepatic conversions play an important
role in cholesterol homeostasis.
Also, acting as emulsifiers, bile acids facilitate the digestion of triacylglycerol, make lipids
more accessible to pancreatic lipases and promote the intestinal absorption of fats (fatsoluble
vitamins included).
Various intermediates in bile acids synthesis and the secondary metabolism of these
intermediates make bile acids a rather complex mixture. The differences of these compounds
in the mixture rely on the number, positions and stereochemistry of hydroxyl groups and the
length of the side chain. Not only the concentrations of bile acids in infants, healthy adults and
patients with liver disease would be different; the hydroxyl groups may also be introduced at
different positions. The complex nature of the bile acids exist in the sample is the key factor
determines the analytical method to be used. The bile acids are rather complex mixture and
quantification of bile acids is needed. Simple analytical quantification methods have
limitations, so time-consuming LC-MS quantification method is needed for bile acids analysis.
With LC-MS, variable mixtures of bile acids in blood, urine, meconium, feces and amniotic
fluid can be quantified successfully.
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