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Updated: Sep 27, 2025

Using Multi-fluorinated Bile Acids and In Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Measure Bile Acid Transport
Published on: November 27, 2016
Bile acids and their receptors: modulators and therapeutic targets in liver inflammation
Anna Bertolini1,2, Romina Fiorotto1, Mario Strazzabosco3
1Section of Digestive Diseases, Yale Liver Center, Yale School of Medicine, PO Box 208019, New Haven, CT, 06520-8019, USA.
Abstract:
Bile acids participate in the intestinal emulsion, digestion, and absorption of lipids and fat-soluble vitamins. When present in high concentrations, as in cholestatic liver diseases, bile acids can damage cells and cause inflammation. After the discovery of bile acids receptors about two decades ago, bile acids are considered signaling molecules. Besides regulating bile acid, xenobiotic, and nutrient metabolism, bile acids and their receptors have shown immunomodulatory properties and have been proposed as therapeutic targets for inflammatory diseases of the liver. This review focuses on bile acid-related signaling pathways that affect inflammation in the liver and provides an overview of the preclinical and clinical applications of modulators of these pathways for the treatment of cholestatic and autoimmune liver diseases.
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