The alteration of serum bile acid profile among traumatic brain injury patients: a small-scale prospective study

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. With the development of bile acids as a potential treatment, to identify the influence of traumatic brain injury on bile acid metabolism shows growing importance. This present study did a preliminary exploration of the bile acid profile alteration among traumatic brain injury patients. In total, 14 patients and 7 healthy volunteers were enrolled. The bile acid profile of the blood samples were detected by an Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer/Mass Spectrometer system. It was found that 6 bile acids were statistically decreased in traumatic brain injury patients comparing with healthy volunteers: glycocholic acid (median level 44.4 ng/ml vs 98.7 ng/ml, p = 0.003), taurocholic acid (median level 10.9 ng/ml vs 19.5 ng/ml, p = 0.006), glycoursodeoxycholic acid (median level 17.4 ng/ml vs 71.4 ng/ml, p = 0.001), ursodeoxycholic acid (median level <1 ng/ml vs 32.4 ng/ml, p = 0.002), taurochenodeoxycholic acid (median level <1 ng/ml vs 53.6 ng/ml, p = 0.003) and glycochenodeoxycholic acid (GCDCA, median level 160 ng/ml vs 364 ng/ml, p <0.001). In conclusion, traumatic brain injury events are able to induce bile acid metabolism alteration in plasma and might cause reduction in glycocholic, taurocholic, glycoursodeoxycholic, ursodeoxycholic, taurochenodeoxycholic and glycochenodeoxycholic acid levels.

Transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal hypothalamic metabolic characteristics and key genes after subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats

“…After brain injury, the mechanism of bile acid metabolism in the liver and brain changed (Huang et al 2015 ), and six hours later, the acute phase response (APR) of the liver and the inflammatory system were activated successively, which led to the imbalance of bile acid homeostasis in the brain (Nizamutdinov et al 2017 ). A recent prospective study had also confirmed that traumatic brain injury induces alterations in plasma bile acid metabolism and may lead to a drop in metabolic levels of glycocholic, taurocholic, and glycoursodeoxycholic (Zhu et al 2023 ). Additionally, the distribution of bile acid receptors and transporter proteins throughout the brain (especially on immune and glial cells) provided a theoretical basis for the possible regulation of neuronal function by bile acids (Bhargava et al 2020 ).…”