Changes in plasma bile acid levels following challenge test for drug suspected to cause liver injury and their clinical significance in drug-induced liver injury.

In this paper, changes in total bile acid levels in comparison with serial results of conventional blood biochemical analyses in the clinical course after a challenge test for a drug suspected of causing liver injury in five patients with drug-induced liver injury were described and the clinical significance was discussed. On the basis of this investigation, it can be concluded that the estimation of bile acid levels in plasma in the clinical course after the challenge test increases the diagnostic and discriminatory capacities of liver function tests in drug-induced liver injury, i.e., total and basic bile acid levels in plasma promptly reflect altered hepatic cell function after the challenge test.