Plasma bile acids in healthy green iguanas and iguanas with chronic liver diseases

The aim of the study was to establish reference values for plasma bile acid (BA) concentrations in a collection of healthy green iguanas and to compare the results with BA concentrations in iguana patients presented to the clinic with various types of chronic liver diseases, patients with other chronic diseases and healthy iguanas that were presented for routine or pre-surgical health check-up. The concentration of BA was determined using the enzymatic colorimetric method. Mean plasma bile acid concentration in 110 samples from healthy green iguanas fasted for 24 h was higher (15.89 ± 15.61 μmol/l) than plasma bile acid concentration in the same iguanas fasted for 48 h (9.56 ± 8.52 μmol/l) (P < 0.01). The 3α-hydroxy bile acid concentration was significantly altered in 9 patients suffering from chronic liver diseases (diagnosed by histology) (84.85 ± 22.29 μmol/l). BA concentration in one iguana with hepatocellular adenoma (13.0 μmol/l) was within the interval of BA in healthy iguanas. Mean plasma BA concentration in 10 green iguanas that were suffering from various types of chronic diseases, but without any hepatopathy was 7.85 ± 4.86 μmol/l. The mean plasma BA concentration in 18 samples from green iguanas presented to the clinic for routine health check-ups and 17 green iguana females with preovulatory follicle stasis (POFS) syndrome presented for ovariectomy was 11.95 ± 9.43 μmol/l and 12.97 ± 9.06 μmol/l, respectively. The data collected from this study suggest that plasma bile acids are significantly increased in green iguanas suffering from chronic liver diseases.