Measurement of bile acid in serum and bile with arylamine-glass-bound 3alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and diaphorase

3Alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3-HSD) from Pseudomonas testosteroni and diaphorase (lipoyl dehydrogenase) from Clostridium spp. have been immobilized individually onto arylamine glass beads through diazotization. A cost-effective enzymic colorimetric method for determination of bile acid in serum and bile employing a mixture of these immobilized enzymes was developed. The method is based on measurement of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide generated from bile acid in serum/bile by immobilized 3alpha-HSD with a color reagent consisting of nitro blue tetrazolium chloride salt, oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, and immobilized lipoyl dehydrogenase in 0.065 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. Analytical recovery of added bile acid (50 and 200 micromol/L) was 95.57 and 85.46% in serum and 97.6 and 91.6% in bile, respectively. Within- and between-batch coefficients of variation (CV) for bile acid determination were <1.2 and <0.2% in serum and >0.1 and <0.1% in bile, respectively. Good correlations for bile acid in serum (r1=0.92) and in bile (r2=0.97) were obtained by use of a standard chemical method and the present method. The mixture of immobilized 3alpha-HSD dehydrogenase and lipoyl dehydrogenase lost 50% of its initial activity after 6 months of regular use. The cost of bile acid determination in 100 serum and bile samples by the present method has been compared with that of the Sigma kit method.