Hepatic and Serum Bile Acid Compositions in Patients with Biliary Atresia: A Microanalysis Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry with Negative Ion Chemical Ionization Detection
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DAIKI ABUKAWA, MICHIKO NAKAGAWA, KAZUIE IINUMA, MASAKI NIO,1 RYOJI OHI1 and JUNICHI GOTO2
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Department of Pediatrics and 1Department of Pediatric Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, and 2Pharmaceutical Institute, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8574
Hepatic and serum bile acids in five patients with biliary atresia were preoperatively determined by microanalysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with negative ion chemical ionization detection. The hepatic content of total bile acids was markedly elevated (3079±711 nmol/g protein), most of which were primary bile acids. Accumulation of unconjugated bile acids (2.93% to 4.62% of the total) was observed in the liver tissue of these patients, although only trace amounts were detected in their sera. The ratio of glycine-conjugated to taurine-conjugated bile acids was 0.44±0.18 in liver tissue and 0.79±0.52 in serum and these values were significantly lower than those of controls. This study has shown that the composition of bile acids in serum does not reflect that in liver tissue faithfully. The accumulation of these hydrophobic bile acids may contribute to initiating or exacerbating liver injury in infants with cholestatic liver diseases.
Key words---
hepatic bile acids; biliary atresia; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
© 1998 Tohoku University Medical Press
Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 1998, 185, 227-237
Address for reprints:
Daiki Abukawa, M.D., Department of Pediatrics, Iwate Prefectural Central Hospital, 1-4-1 Ueda, Morioka 020-0066, Japan.
e-mail: dabukawa@cd.mbn.or.jp
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