Sulfation and renal excretion of bile salts in patients with cirrhosis of the liver.

Renal excretion of bile salts was studied in 17 patients with cirrhosis of the liver. The average quantity of bile salts in urine was 10.2 plus or minus 8.3 mg per 24 hr, 56% of which were sulfated. Of the individual urinary bile salts, 24% oithocholate were sulfated. In contrast, neither sulfated nor nonsulfated bile salts could be detected in urine from 2 normal subjects. Kinetics of bile salt metabolism was measured in 2 of the cirrhotic patients after oral administration of [14C] cholate and [3H] chenodeoxycholate. Approximately 3 to 12% of bile salts synthesized in liver were excreted in urine. Most urinary bile salts (76 to 80%) were sulfated, whereas only 4 to 5% of serum bile salts and 7 to 10% of biliary bile salts were sulfated. Renal clearance of cholate was more than 3 times greater than the clearance of chenodeosycholate or deoxycholate. Renal clearance of sulfated bile salts was 20 to 200 times greaterthan the clearance of the corresponding nonsulfated bile salts.