| Abstract: | To find a possible explanation for the selective hepatic conjugation of bile acids with glycine or taurine, the N-acyl amidates of cholic acid and a number of amino acids and amino acid analogues were synthesized, and their susceptibility to hydrolysis by pancreatic juice, gastric juice, serum, or small intestinal mucosal enzymes was measured. Deconjugation by pure carboxypeptidase A and B was also examined, and hydrolysis by these tissue fluids and enzymes was compared with that mediated by a bacterial cholylglycine hydrolase. Human pancreatic juice efficiently hydrolyzed cholyl conjugates of all neutral-L-amino acids (cholyl-L-alanine, cholyl-L-valine, cholyl-L-leucine, and cholyl-L-tyrosine), except cholylglycine. The net hourly rate of hydrolysis (in micromoles per milligram protein per hour) increased when the terminal residue was aromatic or branched aliphatic, and appeared to be specific for L-alpha-amino acids as cholyl-beta-alanine and cholyl-D-valine were not cleaved. From cholyl glycylglycine, only the terminal glycine was efficiently removed. Cholyltaurine and cholyl conjugates with the methyl and propyl analogues of taurine were resistant to hydrolysis. Two basic amino acid conjugates (cholyl-L-lysine and cholyl-L-arginine) were cleaved, whereas conjugates of acidic amino acids (cholyl-aspartate and cholyl-cysteate) were not cleaved. Studies using pure enzymes showed that bovine carboxypeptidase A hydrolyzed the cholyl conjugates of the neutral L-alpha-amino acids with similar specificity as observed for the human pancreatic juice, whereas bovine carboxypeptidase B cleaved the basic amino acid conjugates. Cholyl-L-lysine and cholyl-L-arginine were also cleaved by serum and plasma, which are known to possess carboxypeptidase activity. Cholyl conjugates were not cleaved by gastric juice, by trypsin, or by homogenates of rat small intestinal mucosa. In contrast, all cholyl conjugates were cleaved by a bacterial cholylglycine hydrolase. These experiments indicate that glycine and taurine amidates of cholic acid differ from a number of other conjugates with neutral and basic amino acid in being resistant to hydrolysis by pancreatic and plasma carboxypeptidases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS) |
