Rat and human bile acid binders are members of the monomeric reductase gene family.

Abstract

Major advances have provided important new information on the fundamental mechanism of bile acid transport and metabolism in the liver. Previous studies of bile acid transport in enriched hepatocyte plasma membrane domains, isolated cells, couplets and whole organ perfusion are now complemented by the recent molecular identification of membrane spanning bile acid transporters and specific cytosolic binding proteins. With these new tools, the interrelationship of bile acid uptake, efflux and transport within the cell can be examined. We have focused on the molecular characterization of both human and rat cytosolic bile acid binding proteins in order to define their physiological function. This chapter will review the physiological role and biochemical characteristic of specific cytosolic bile acid binding proteins in human and rat liver. Molecular cloning of these genes reveals them to be members of a newly emerging family of monomeric reductase suggesting multifunctional role for this class of proteins.KeywordsBile AcidAldose ReductaseBile Acid TransportBile Acid BindingDihydrodiol DehydrogenaseThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.