Meal stimulated response of serum bile acids levels in normal and altered bile acids enterohepatic circulation.

Sequential measurement of postprandial serum levels of bile acids was carried out in ten healthy controls and in four patients with different impairment of bile acids enterohepatic circulation. An enzymathic fluormetric method was used for SBA analysis. The peak of increase above fasting baseline in normal subjects was 11.8 +/- 1.2 microM/1 (mean +/- SD). In a cholecystectomized subject no SBA peak was observed. Two patients with mild and severe liver impairment (i.e. alcoholic steatosis and Summerskill-Walshe disease during an acute attack of jaundice) had postprandial SBA increase of 20 microM/1 and 70 microM/1 respectively. In a patient affected by Crohn's disease, with proved bile acids malabsorption, a negligible postprandial SBA increase was noted (6.65 microM/1). It is concluded that meal stimulated response of SBA levels might be useful index of altered hepatobiliary and intestinal function.