The quantitative estimation of bile acids and their conjugates in human biological fluids.

This review attempts to provide a concise and critical summary of modern methods for the analysis of bile acids and their conjugates in human biological fluids. Most emphasis is given to more up-to-date procedures that have been applied to the study of human disease and attention is drawn to previous reviews in areas that have not been covered here. An increasing awareness of the possibility that bile acids may be involved in the etiology of a number of disorders, or that such disorders may give rise to changes in bile acid concentration, has stimulated the study of bile acid methodology. Although many procedures have been described using, for example, high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), gas-liquid chromatography--mass spectrometry (GLC-MS), and radioimmunoassay (RIA), no simple but comprehensive procedure for the estimation of bile acids and their conjugates has yet been published. Further study in this area is still required in order to establish the role of bile acid estimations in the routine diagnosis and treatment of disease.