Factors That Determine Bile Acid Conjugation

Factors That Determine Bile Acid Conjugation 

The intrinsic ability of the liver to conjugate bile acids and the relative proportions of the two principal forms, the glycine and taurine conjugates, are determined and regulated by several factors, hepatic and extrahepatic. 

Recent studies on bile salts in duodenojejunal samples from subjects suffering from tropical sprue have shown a significantly lowered glycine/ taurine ratio compared to ratios in control or protein-caloric malnutrition subjects (37). 

In contrast, in ileal absorptive disorders, Garbutt et al. (38) observed an increase in G T ratios of both cholate and deoxycholate, which was attributed to a decrease in enterohepatic recirculation of taurocholate and deoxycholate. It is also interesting to note that a selective conjugation of cholic acid with L-ornithine could be induced in the rat and guinea pig liver by the injection of a toxic capsular polysaccharide of Klebsiella pneumoniae (39). Partial hepatectomy has also been shown to result in a shutdown in the hepatic synthesis of glycine conjugates of bile acids (40). 

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D. Factors That Determine Bile Acid Conjugation... 

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