Effect of petroleum hydrocarbons on the biliary bile acid composition of rainbow trout ( Salmo gairdneri)

Abstract

1. 1. Biliary bile acid profiles were investigated by thin layer and gas liquid chromatography in fish exposed per os with a Venezuelan crude petroleum or a triglyceride rich oil, olive oil. 2. 2. Neither volume of bile nor bile acid pools were affected, compared to controls, in fish fed either petroleum or olive oil. 3. 3. The response was not uniform, but a small increase in the ratio of the primary bile acids, cholic to chenodeoxycholic, was observed in a number of fish exposed to petroleum. 4. 4. Petroleum appeared not to simply mimic a fatty food source in altering the cholic to chenodeoxycholic acid ratio. 5. 5. The hypothesis that the elevation of mixed function oxygenase enzymes by such potent inducers as petroleum hydrocarbons could markedly alter bile acid profiles, or result in the production of novel bile acid metabolites, was not supported in this study.