Author: Dr Mihály Pósa, Dr János Csanádi, Dr Ferenc Gaál:
Literature title: Self-assembly and hydrogen bond aggregation of bile acids

1. Introduction
Bile acids are an important component of lipid metabolism in humans. They are formed from cholesterol and have many important functions.
Because they contain both polar and apolar groups, they have detergent properties; they emulsify the fats ingested in the small intestine, increasing their surface area and making lipids more accessible to pancreatic lipase. They also accelerate the digestion of lipids because they directly activate the lipase enzyme. In addition, they regulate cholesterol synthesis and its retention in solution by gene expression and enzyme inhibition, thus preventing cholesterol precipitation and the formation of cholesterol-based stones. Finally, the possibility of cholesterol excretion is provided by bile acids in the faeces under physiological conditions.
Over the past 30 years, pharmaceutical applications of bile acids have ranged from dissolving gallstones to various drug molecule carriers.

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