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Microbial bile acid modifications: current understandings, key problems, and future perspectives
How Gut Bacteria Change Bile Acids: What We Know, Main Challenges, and Future Directions
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Abstract
Gut microbiota may drive significant modifications in bile acids (BAs).
- Microbial transformations of BAs include processes such as deconjugation, 7α-dehydroxylation, oxidation, epimerization, re-conjugation, and succinylation.
- Specific microbial species and metabolic enzymes are associated with these BA modifications.
- Therapeutic strategies targeting the microbiota-BA axis can regulate microbial composition through methods like probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT).
- Enzyme inhibitors represent another approach to modify BAs therapeutically.
- Bile acid receptors, including both canonical and non-canonical types, mediate the physiological effects of BAs on functions such as homeostasis, intestinal barrier integrity, and immune responses.
- Emerging tools like reverse metabolomics and organoid models are contributing to the discovery of new BA modifications and their biological roles.
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