Bile acid concentrations in serum, bile and faeces of healthy calves and in calves with diarrhoea

On 32 calves (age 3 to 14 days) with spontaneously occuring diarrhoea, the following investigations were carried out: Regular examination of serum bil e acid concentrations, collection of the entire faeces with determination o f bile acid concentrations, as well as microbiological examinations. Six cl inically healthy calves served as control group. In addition, bile acids in bile were determined in 16 other calves of the same age group and in 6 bee f bulls. There was no significant influence of daytime or feed intake on serum bile acid concentration in diarrhoeic or healthy calves. Possibly due to the low concentrations of bile acids in the bile of young calves (4,8 +/- 3,7 mmol /l, compared to 57 +/- 13 mmol/l in the bulls), the concentrations in faece s were also rather low (control group 623 +/- 92, calves with diarrhoea 318 +/- 277, after diarrhoea. 794 +/- 935 mu mol/kg). Most of it was cholic ac id, whereas only traces of desoxycholic acid were found. In spite of the comparatively low concentrations of fecal bile acids, the d iarrhoeic calves excreted larger amounts of bile acids than the healthy cal ves (12,7 +/- 13,5 vs. 1,4 +/- 0,8 mu mol/kg), but this was independent of the type of enteropathogen or pathogen combinations which were detected. Th ere were no indications for a direct influence of the diarrhoea by bile aci ds. However, through enteral bile acid tosses, profuse diarrhoea lasting se veral days can cause a reduction in the total bile acid pool.