A routine method for determination of glycine and taurine distribution in bile acids

A procedure is described in which the content of glycine and taurine in bile acids is determined. Following an alkaline hydrolysis, the amino acids are separated on a column of Dowex 50-X8 and quantitatively estimated by a ninhydrin colorimetric method. The taurine/taurine + glycine ratios in a series of samples were determined by this method and by an enzymatic bile acid analysis and a good accordance between the two methods was obtained.