title: Comparison of bile acid synthesis determined by isotope dilution versus fecal acidic sterol output in human subjects.
abstract: Fecal acidic sterol output has been found to be much lower than bile acid synthesis determined by isotope dilution (J. Lipid Res. 17: 17, 1976). Because of this confusing discrepancy, we compared these 2 measurements done simultaneously on 13 occasions in 5 normal volunteers. In contrast to previous findings, bile acid synthesis by the Lindstedt isotope dilution method averaged 16.3% lower than synthesis simultaneously determined by fecal acidic sterol output (95% confidence limit for the difference - 22.2 to -10.4%). When one-sample determinations of bile acid pools were substituted for Lindstedt pools, bile acid synthesis by isotope dilution averaged 5.6% higher than synthesis by fecal acidic sterol output (95% confidence limits -4.9 to 16.1%). These data indicate that the 2 methods yield values in reasonably close agreement with one another. If anything, fecal acidic sterol outputs are slightly higher than synthesis by isotope dilution.
mesh_terms: D001647:Bile Acids and Salts / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005243:Feces / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008722:Methods; D011865:Radioisotope Dilution Technique; D013261:Sterols / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D001647:Bile Acids and Salts; D013261:Sterols