Detection of Bile Acids in Squirrel Tissue
Anunson (Drs. Kevin Crawford and Dana Vaughan)
The ability to separate and detect bile acids in low concentrations is essential in studies of the role of bile acids in squirrel tissue protection. Bile acids are secreted from the liver and derived from cholesterol. Detection of the bile acids was conducted using a HPLC instrument attached to an ELSD detector. The purpose of the experiment was to develop a method that would be able to detect the 13 tested bile acids at concentrations low enough to identify bile acid presence in squirrel tissue. A method that seemed to be best suited for separation was devised. The lowest concentration in which the majority of the peaks were still detectable was around 10 ppm. The expected level of concentration to be detected was 2 ppm or lower based on prior measurements of one bile acid by an alternative method. TUDCA is one of the more important bile acids that were being sought in this experiment because it is one of the bile acids that is thought to aid in the prevention of apoptosis, programmed cell death, which is suggested to be useful during hibernation in animals and hoped to be a link in the search for another possible Alzheimer’s medication.