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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Hepatology. 2018 Apr 16;67(6):2150–2166. doi: 10.1002/hep.29676

Figure 1. Administration of ethanol leads to elevated levels of unconjugated bile acids in the intestine and plasma, and augmented Cyp7a1 protein expression and conjugated bile acids in the liver.

Figure 1

C57BL/6 mice were fed an oral control diet (n=5–12) or ethanol diet (n=8–18) for 8 weeks. (A) Metagenomic sequencing revealed an increased proportion of bacterial genomic DNA containing choloylglycine hydrolase (CGH), a major enzyme for deconjugation (deamidation) of conjugated bile acids, after ethanol feeding. Other metabolic enzymes are listed for comparison. Bacterial genomic DNA for FabG, FabF, and FabD, genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, were found decreased after alcohol administration (12). (B) Bile acid concentrations in ileal contents. Unconjugated bile acid levels are significantly higher between ethanol and control fed mice. (C) Bile acid composition ratio in ileal contents. (D) Bile acid concentrations in plasma (left; significant differences with respect to unconjugated and total bile acids), liver (right; significant differences with respect to unconjugated, conjugated and total bile acids). (E) Bile acid concentrations in gallbladder. (F) Bile acid concentrations in feces. (G) Total bile acid pool. (H) Plasma FGF15 concentration. (I) Immunoblot analysis of hepatic Cyp7a1. *P < 0.05. Abbreviations: Genes: CGH, Choloylglycine hydrolase; DHAK, Dihydroxyacetone kinase, C-terminal domain; EC, Enzyme Commission Number; FabD, [acyl-carrier-protein] S-malonyltransferase; FabF, 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] synthase II; FabG, 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier protein] reductase; FrK, Fructokinase; G-1Pase, Glucose-1-phosphatase; ManA, Mannose-6-phosphate isomerase; NDH, NADH dehydrogenase; PPiase, Inorganic pyrophosphatase; ThyA, Thymidylate synthase; UGDH, UDPglucose 6-dehydrogenase. Bile acids: BA, bile acid; c, conjugated; CA, cholic acid; DCA, deoxycholic acid; HDCA, hyodeoxycholic acid; MCA, muricholic acid; T-CA, taurocholic acid; T-DCA, taurodeoxycholic acid; T-MCA, tauromuricholic acid; t, total; u, unconjugated. Cyp7a1, cholesterol 7a-hydroxylase; EtOH, ethanol; FGF15, fibroblast growth factor 15.