title: Urinary bile alcohol profiles in healthy and cholestatic children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bile alcohols are normal constituents of urine.
  
  
  METHODS
  To better understand bile alcohol profile in childhood, urinary specimens from 41 healthy children and 10 children with cholestasis, and 3 healthy adults, were analyzed by GLC and GC-MS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five bile alcohols, 27-nor-5beta-cholestane-3alpha,7alpha,12alpha,24S,25R-pentol, 5beta-cholestane-3alpha,7alpha,12alpha,24S, 25-pentol, 5beta-cholestane-3alpha,7alpha,12alpha,24S,26-pentol, 5beta-cholestane-3alpha,7alpha, 12alpha,25,26-pentol, and 5beta-cholestane-3alpha,7alpha,12alpha,26,27-pentol were identified in all specimens. C(26)-Pentol was the most abundant constituent, constituting 29.5 to 65% of bile alcohols. Among healthy children (n=41), no significant relationship was seen between proportions of the C(26)-pentol and age, but older children (n=15, 6 to 14 years) showed a significantly greater mean percentage of the C(26)-pentol than young children (n=26, 0 to 5 years; 58.1+/-4.23% vs. 46.0+/-9.24%, p<0.001). In children with cholestatic liver diseases, the percentage of C(26)-pentol in urinary bile alcohols was significantly lower than age-matched controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is an increased composition of C(26)-pentol in older children and relatively decreased composition of C(26)-pentol in children with cholestatic liver diseases.
authors.affiliation: Sendai Tokusyukai Hospital, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Une
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takenaka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tazawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imanaka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuramoto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002777:Cholestanols / Q000652:urine*; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012015:Reference Standards; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D002777:Cholestanols