Duodenal bile acids in infancy.

Studies on the Conjugating Activity of Bile Acids in Children

“…This is in agreement with the report that the G/T ratio of bile acids in the gallbladder bile reaches the adult level 2-7 months afte birth (5). Biliary conjugates of bile acids showed a large excess of taurine/glycine in neonatal life (5,19), but the serum levels of glycine conjugated bile acids predominated over taurine conjugated bile acids. This may be due to selectivity of intestinal absorption or hepatic uptake of bile acids.…”

“…Nittono et al (19) determined bile acids in gallbladder contents of premature babies and neonates by HPLC and reported that TCA and TCDCA accounted for more than 70% of the total. The explanation for this is unclear but correlated with the high taurine levels in liver and sera of neonates compared to their mothers' (5).…”

“…In the fetal and neonatal period, 3ghydroxy-5-cholenoic acid and LCA are synthesized as primary bile acids in addition to CA and CDCA (3,16). The taurine conjugated bile acids are more predominant than glycine conjugated bile acids (5,7,19), and the ratio is later reversed. However, there has been only one report from animals (6) as to whether or not the conjugating activity of bile acids is satisfactory in the neonatal period in which the liver has not developed fully.…”

Taurocholate pool size and distribution in the fetal rat.

“…The fetal development of bile salt synthesis and metabolism has not been completely delineated. Blood, gallbladder, and intestinal bile salt concentrations have been measured in near-term fetuses, premature infants, and newborns (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). The gallbladder and intestinal bile salts of fetal and neonatal rabbits have been identified and quantified (11).…”

Studies on the Unusual 1β-Hydroxylated Bile Acid Biosynthesis in Infants

“…21) It has been reported that bile acids are present as taurine conjugates in fetuses, in contrast to the glycine conjugates mainly observed in adults. 22,23) Our results showed that formation rates of T-CA-1β-ol upon adding taurine in infant hepatocytes were 59-fold higher than those without adding taurine. In this in vitro study, taurine concentration upon the incubation of human hepatocytes was extremely low (data not shown).…”