Using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, we have found three unconjugated bile acids [cholic acid (CA), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), and deoxycholic acid (DCA)] in the rat brain cytoplasmic fraction. CDCA was detected only upon extraction with high concentrations of guanidine, indicating that it is bound noncovalently to protein in the brain. The most abundant of the three, it was present at a concentration of 1.6 nmol/g wet weight ( ف 15 mg of protein) of brain, corresponding to almost 30 times its serum concentration. CA and DCA were present at 1/30th the concentration of CDCA. Bile acids conjugated with amino acids, sulfuric acid, and glucuronic acid were not detected. These data clearly demonstrate that unconjugated CDCA and, to a lesser extent, CA and DCA, exists in the rat brain. Bile acids are synthesized in the liver from cholesterol by the action of hepatic enzymes and excreted into the small intestine via the bile duct. In the intestinal lumen, they assist lipolysis and the absorption of fats by forming mixed micelles and then return to the liver upon absorption in the ileum and proximal colon. Because of their efficient hepatic uptake, bile acids have low concentrations in the peripheral blood. Recent observations also indicate that the nuclear bile acid receptor, the farnesoid X receptor, regulates the bile acid pool by repressing the transcription of genes encoding hepatocyte transporters (1) as well as cholesterol 7 ␣ -hydroxylase (2, 3), which is the ratelimiting enzyme for bile acid biosynthesis.