DETERMINATION OF SERUM BILE ACIDS AND ITS USE AS A HEPATIC FUNCTION TEST
Serum bile acid of 26 normal subjects and 61 patients with hepatobiliary disorders was determined by Murphy's enzymatic-fluorimetric method which was improved by the authors. The fasting serum bile acid concentration was below 1 μg/ml in normal subjects. It was elevated in about 90% of patients. Observation of serum bile acid in a patient with acute hepatitis throughout the whole course of illness suggested that the determination of serum bile acid is a valuable measure for pursuing the clinical course of this disease. Variations of the serum bile acid level after taking meal (including two boiled eggs) were examined on ten normal subiects and 14 patients with hepatic parenchymal damages. The postprandial concentration rose abnormally high in all of the patients, whereas no rise was seen in normal subjects. The degree of postprandial rise was parallel to the abnormality of ICG test, (with a correlation coefficient γ=＋0,90). It is worth while to special mention that the postprandial serum bile acid concentration was abnormally high even in some of the patients who showed normal ICG tests. It is therefore said that the serum bile acid will be a sensitive indicator of hepatobiliary disorders.
