Bile acids analysis tissues

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 (fat-

soluble 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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