Work

Noninvasive imaging and quantification of bile salt hydrolase activity: From bacteria to humans

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The microbiome-produced enzyme bile salt hydrolase (BSH) plays a central role in human health, but its function remains unclear due to the lack of suitable methods for measuring its activity. Here, we have developed a novel optical tool based on ultrasensitive bioluminescent imaging and demonstrated that this assay can be used for quick and cost-effective quantification of BSH activity across a broad range of biological settings including pure enzymes and bacteria, intact fecal slurries, and noninvasive imaging in live animals, as well as for the assessment of BSH activity in the entire gastrointestinal tract of mice and humans. Using this assay, we showed that certain types of prebiotics are capable of increasing BSH activity of the gut microbiota in vivo and successfully demonstrated potential application of this assay as a noninvasive diagnostic test to predict the clinical status of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.

Source: UNC Libraries

DOI: 10.17615/0nty-p263

Authors: Ringel, Yehuda, Bruce, Stephen, Torres, Joana, Bétrisey, Bertrand, Bazhin, Arkadiy A., Goun, Elena A., Lauber, Christian L., Ringel-Kulka, Tamar, Chou, Chieh Jason, Hu, Jianzhong, Yevtodiyenko, Aleksey, Khodakivskyi, Pavlo V.

Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Topic: bioluminescence and chemiluminescence research

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7213667271

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