Composition of bile acids in ruminants.

The bile acids found in sheep bile, beef bile, beef feces, sheep fetus bile, and beef fetus bile have been analyzed by using conventional techniques. Animals maintained on natural and purified diets were used. The bile acids are a complex mixture of isomeric hydroxy- and keto-5beta-cholanoic acids which were substituted at one or several of the carbon atoms 3, 7, and 12. Cholic acid is the predominant bile acid found in these species. Deoxycholic acid was the major product formed from cholic acid when the animals were on a natural diet but the concentration of 3alpha, 12alpha-dihydroxy-7-keto-5beta-cholanoic acid was elevated in the animals that were maintained on a high concentrated purified diet (without roughage). The fetus bile was found to contain nearly all of the bile acids found in the bile of the mature animal but in different concentrations.