Gut-liver bile signaling
Bile-acid/FGF19 axis
Also searched as Bile-acid/FGF19 axis.
Bile Acids act on Receptors such as FXR and TGR5 to Regulate Lipid Metabolism, intestinal motility, and immune function. They are the two-way channel of the gut-liver axis: made by the liver, modified by the microbiome, sensed by both.
In depth
Bile acids acting through the FXR and TGR5 receptors — not merely emulsifiers but hormones.
What drives it
Liver increases it.
Bile acids are synthesized in the liver from cholesterol - the beginning of the gut-liver axis and the route by which cholesterol leaves the body. doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6 · PMC10132248
Gut barrier increases it.
The microbiome modifies the bile acid pool, deconjugating and transforming what the liver secretes; this is the return arm of the gut-liver axis. doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6 · PMC10132248
Taurine status increases it.
Taurine conjugates bile acids. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and clinical reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
Peroxisomes increases it.
Bile acid intermediates are processed here. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and redox reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
What it drives
It increases Moves everything along.
In a double-blind placebo-controlled trial, 4 days of delayed-release chenodeoxycholate significantly accelerated overall colonic transit and ascending colon emptying and increased stool frequency and looseness compared with placebo. PMID 20691689
It increases Digestion.
Bile acids act on the FXR and TGR5 receptors to regulate lipid metabolism, intestinal motility and immune function - they are signaling molecules, not merely detergents (doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6; PMC10132248; doi 10.3389/fnut.2025.1646750) Verbatim: “Bile acids play a dual role by aiding lipid absorption and acting as signaling molecules by interacting with various receptors”. doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6 · PMC10132248
It increases Liver.
FXR signaling feeds back on hepatic bile acid synthesis and lipid handling, so the liver reads its own output and adjusts. doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6 · PMC10132248
It increases Liver clearance.
Biliary export is phase III of clearance - the step that carries conjugated compounds out of the body after phases I and II have prepared them. doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6 · PMC10132248
It increases Lowers cholesterol.
Bile acid receptors regulate lipid metabolism directly, which is why the pool size influences circulating lipids and not only fat absorption. doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6 · PMC10132248
It reduces Stomach contents rising.
Drawn from reviews of neighboring outcomes rather than from studies of this outcome itself, which is weaker evidence, and the map marks it so. Sources: doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6; PMC5559637. doi 10.1038/s41522-022-00352-6 · PMC5559637
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.