Deoxycholic acid

3α, 12α - dihydroxycholanic acid

Beige solid

177 ° C

5.15 (20 ° C)

Insoluble in water ( 43.6 mg · l-1 at 20 ° C)

Attention

1000 mg · kg -1 ( rat, oral)

Template: Infobox chemical / molecular formula search available

Deoxycholic acid ( DCA) is one of the secondary bile acids. Chemically it is the group of sterols ( sterols ) belonging steroid. Its salts are called Desoxycholate.

Biochemistry

Biochemically, there is a so-called secondary bile acids, glycocholic acid which is synthesized by various conversion processes in the liver as well as the activity of specific intestinal bacteria from cholesterol to the intermediate stage of the primary bile acids. When bile acid has an important role in the digestion of fat.

With the structural similarity to the steroid hormones, there are hypotheses about their involvement in the hormonal balance of the body. Here, above all, an antagonistic interaction with the stress hormones ( glucocorticoids) could be.

Use

The sodium salt of deoxycholic acid, sodium deoxycholate is used in biochemistry as an anionic surfactant for cell lysis and solubilization of membrane proteins.

Deoxycholic acid has in some countries (eg in Switzerland) a license as a now no longer common emulsifier.

In medicine, Desoxycholsäuren, including ursodeoxycholic acid used as a medication to dissolve gallstones and against liver diseases associated with cholestasis. Currently, she is part of predominantly stomachic medicines ( choleretics ). In in - vitro laboratory tests on cell cultures bile acids also showed growth-inhibiting cancer cells and inhibitory properties on the other hand, there are studies that show that DCA can act as a tumor promoter in colon cancer. About 25 % of all colorectal cancers in humans carry specific receptors for deoxycholic acid. In the rat model organism formed in the animals significantly more tumors, which also received deoxycholic next to the carcinogenic azoxymethane. Deoxycholic acid is a risk factor for the development of colon cancer.

Due to the work of the Czech chemist Bohuslav Vlcek (1923-1998) from the 1970s, which saw an immunomodulatory effect of deoxycholic acid, the substance is, however, occasionally used in alternative medicine against infections and cancer. In China, the Chinese Schisandra ( Schisandra chinensis) is a traditional medicinal plant with toning effect. One of its components is DCA.