Tedros Bezabeh1, Omkar B. Ijare1,
Nils Albiin2, Annika Bergquist3, Urban Arnelo4,
Matthias Lhr3, Johannes R. Hov5, Ian CP Smith1
1National Research Council Institute
for Biodiagnostics, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; 2Radiology,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 3Gastroenterology and
Hepatology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 4Surgery,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 5Medicine, Oslo
University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
Conjugation
of bile acids with amino acids glycine and taurine is an important phenomenon
in bile formation. In healthy humans, the ratio of glycine- to taurine-conjugated
bile acids is generally 3:1, and this ratio is altered in cholestatic
conditions. We analyzed bile samples from patients with various cholestatic
diseases and found that the median of the above ratio was 2.23:1. This
alteration could be attributed to the elevation in the levels of
taurine-conjugates or reduction in the levels of glycine-conjugates. Such
alterations can be easily detected by 1H MRS and the technique
could be valuable in the diagnosis of diseases related to bile acid synthetic
defects.
Keywords