The ionization behavior of bile acids in different aqueous environments

The ionization behavior of cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, and chenodeoxycholic acid in a variety of physiologically important molecular environments was studied using 13C NMR spectroscopy. The apparent pKa of the carboxyl group was determined from titration curves obtained from the dependence of the carboxyl carbon chemical shift on pH. Using 90% 13C isotopic substitution of the carboxyl carbon, a complete titration curve was obtained for cholate at a concentration below its critical micelle concentration and solubility limit in water. Incorporation of 12 mole % bile acid into mixed micelles with its taurine conjugate prevented precipitation of the unconjugated bile acid, and titration curves for cholic, deoxycholic, and chenodeoxycholic acids in the mixed micelles were obtained. The apparent pKa was also determined for 13C-enriched bile acids complexed with bovine serum albumin and in egg phosphatidylcholine vesicles. For monomers, micelles, and BSA complexes of all three bile acids and for deoxycholic and chenodeoxycholic acid in vesicles, one magnetic environment was observed. In contrast, two environments, both titratable, were detected for cholic acid in phosphatidylcholine vesicles. The apparent pKa's of the bile acids in the different environments ranged from 4.2 to 7.3. At pH 7.4, as monomers or bound to albumin, the bile acids were fully ionized, but when associated with phosphatidylcholine vesicles they were only partially ionized. In addition, aspects of the molecular motion and relative hydrophobicity of the bile acid carboxyl group in the environments studied were discerned from chemical shift, line-width, and lineshape data.