β-Muricholic acid (β-MCA) is a murine-specific primary bile acid.[1],[2] Dietary administration of β-MCA reduces HMG-CoA reductase activity in liver microsomes from mice fed a high cholesterol and cholic acid diet.[3] Dietary administration of β-MCA also dissolves 100% of gallstones in a gallstone-susceptible mouse model of diet-induced cholesterol gallstones.[4]
Tauro-α-muricholic acid (TαMCA) is an antagonist of the farnesoid X receptor (FXR; IC50 = 28 μM) and a taurine-conjugated form of the murine-specific primary bile acid α-muricholic acid . TαMCA is common in rodents but has also been found in small amounts in human serum.
Taurohyocholic acid (THCA), a taurine-conjugated form of porcine-specific primary bile acid hyocholic acid, inhibits cholesterol crystal precipitation by stabilizing cholesterol in the liquid-crystalline phase and prevents cholestasis and cellular necrosis in isolated rat livers induced by taurolithocholic acid. Additionally, THCA levels rise in the urine of patients with hepatitis B-induced cirrhosis.