Effects of dietary manipulations on the biliary bile acid glycine: taurine (G: T) ratio and the activity of hepatic bile acid-Co A: amino acidN-acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1) in the post-mitochondrial fraction of liver homogenates were examined in the rat. The G:T ratio in rats fed on the diet containing 100 g pectin/kg (2.18) was markedly higher than that in the animals fed on the diet containing 100 g cellulose/kg (0.09). The diets containing either 10 g cholesterol/kg or 5 g sodium cholate/kg, especially the latter, also increased the G:T ratio (0.77 and 2.33 respectively) compared with a control diet free of these steroids (0.34). When the saturating concentrations of taurine (20 mM) and glycine (100 mM) were the substrates, dietary pectin relative to cellulose significantly increased the activity of both taurine- and glycine-dependent bile acid-CoA: amino acidN-acyltransferase, but neither dietary bile acid nor cholesterol influenced it. In spite of the marked difference in the G:T ratio among the rats given various types of experimental diet, the bile acid-CoA: amino acid N-acyltransferase reaction produced taurine- but little glycine-conjugated bile acid when both taurine and glycine coexisted at physiological concentration ranges in the assay media. Dietary manipulations modified the hepatic taurine concentrations and the changes were inversely correlated with those in the G: T ratio. However, hepatic concentration of taurine (1.67–4.82 μmol/g) in rats given various types of experimental diet was comparable with or even higher than the reported Michaelis constant (Km) value ofN-acyltransferase for this compound (0.8–2.5 mM). In contrast, glycine concentrations (1.81–2.58 μmol/g) were much lower than the Km value for this amino acid (35–40 mM) under various dietary conditions. Thus, neither the substrate specificity of the bile acid conjugation enzyme nor the alteration in the hepatic concentration of taurine or glycine accounted for the change in the G: T ratio in the present study.

A relationship between bile acid conjugation and hepatic taurine concentration was investigated in rats fed on citrus pectin. When rats were fed on the diets containing varying amounts of pectin (10, 30, 60 and 100 g/kg dietary levels), biliary excretion of bile acids increased as the dietary levels of pectin increased. The increase was entirely due to the glycine-conjugated bile acids. The biliary excretion of taurine-conjugated bile acid was somewhat decreased as the dietary level of the fibre increased. Consequently, most of the bile acids were conjugated with glycine in rats fed on the diet containing 100 g pectin/kg. On the other hand, dietary cellulose (60 and 100 g/kg) did not affect the biliary bile acid excretions. The major proportion of bile acids in rats receiving a fibre-free diet and the diets containing cellulose were conjugated with taurine. Hepatic taurine concentrations decreased as the dietary levels of pectin, but not of cellulose, increased. Although dietary pectin (100 g/kg) also slightly decreased the taurine concentration in the kidney, those concentrations in other non-hepatic tissues examined (heart, brain and serum) were unaffected by the dietary fibre. Supplementation of the diet containing 100 g pectin/kg with methionine (10 g/kg) and taurine (10 and 50 g/kg) strikingly increased hepatic taurine concentrations. In this situation, the conjugation of bile acid with glycine was almost abolished and taurine conjugates became abundant in the bile of these animals. It is suggested that dietary pectin mediated an increase in the biliary bile acid excretion which may have depleted the hepatic pool of taurine available for bile acid conjugation and, thus, increased glycine conjugation of bile acids.