Biliary phosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylcholine profiles in sclerosing cholangitis

Table 3 Results of biochemical bile analyses of 41 human bile samples from four patient groups

	Controls (n = 11)	PSC (n = 14)	SSC (n = 10)	CCC (n = 6) with PSC (n = 2)	P value
Bile bilirubin (mg/dL)	41.6 ± 11.1	11.3 ± 1.8	6.0 ± 1.7	14.0 ± 6.4	0.006; controlsb
	1 ND	2 ND, 1 BLD	1 BLD
Bile protein (g/dL)	3.5 ± 0.9	3.1 ± 0.5	12.5 ± 9.5	3.7 ± 1.0	0.89
	1 ND	3 ND	1 BLD
Bile cholesterol (mmol/L)	1.10 ± 0.32	0.53 ± 0.18	0.25 ± 0.07	0.31 ± 0.13	0.10
	2 BLD	4 BLD	4 BLD
Bile total bile acids (mmol/L)	21.3 ± 3.1	17.4 ± 6.8	7.8 ± 3.1	5.9 ± 1.5	0.003; controlsb, controlsc
Bile total PC per volume (μmol/L)	8030 ± 1843	6205 ± 1465	2501 ± 790	1969 ± 981	0.005; controlsa, controlsc
Bile total LPC per volume (μmol/L)	256 ± 90	200 ± 97	91.3 ± 50.0	12.2 ± 5.4	Over-all 0.02; Dunn’s post-test: NS
LPC/PC (molar ratio)	0.04 ± 0.01	0.09 ± 0.05	0.03 ± 0.011	0.008 ± 0.001	0.54
PC/bilirubin (molar ratio)	0.13 ± 0.07	0.35 ± 0.08	0.30 ± 0.07	0.24 ± 0.09	0.09
PC/protein [μmol/L/(g/dL)]	5131 ± 1918	3597 ± 1350	2782 ± 2241	725 ± 229	0.09
PC/cholesterol (molar ratio)	8.9 ± 2.6	14.0 ± 3.8	8.4 ± 1.4	6.2 ± 2.3	0.46
PC/bile acids (molar ratio)	0.40 ± 0.07	0.45 ± 0.06	0.34 ± 0.07	0.31 ± 0.09	0.45

¹One value was excluded (outlier); for calculation of SEM, values below detection level were set at 0; ND: Not done (not sufficient material left for determination); BLD: Below limit of detection; NS: Not significant; PSC: Primary sclerosing cholangitis; SSC: Secondary sclerosing cholangitis; CCC: Cholangiocellular carcinoma.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs SSC;

^cP < 0.05 vs CCC.