Urinary bile alcohol profiles in healthy and cholestatic children.
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.
Nakagawa
M
M
Sendai Tokusyukai Hospital, Sendai, Japan.
Une
M
M
Takenaka
S
S
Tazawa
Y
Y
Nozaki
S
S
Imanaka
T
T
Kuramoto
T
T
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
D002777:Cholestanols