Bile salts of frogs: a new higher bile acid, 3 alpha, 7 alpha, 12 alpha, 26-tetrahydroxy-5 beta-cholestanoic acid from the bile Rana plancyi.

Bile salts of ten species of frogs of the family Ranidae were examined by means of thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography, and gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Their major bile alcohols were ranol, cyprinol, or bufol. Four species of frogs contained lesser amounts of higher bile acids, and in two species C24 bile acids were present. A higher bile acid that has not been previously described was detected in Rana plancyi. On the basis of the spectral data and the direct comparison with a synthetic sample, the chemical structure of the new bile acid was established to be 3 alpha, 7 alpha, 12 alpha, 26-tetrahydroxy-5 beta-cholestanoic acid.