Advances in the recognition strategies and analytical techniques of bile acids

Bile acids are one of the most important steroid compounds in liver, providing vital bioinformation and clinical evidence for disease surveillance. Abnormal concentrations of bile acids in related-diseases make bile acid analysis a hot research topic. Despite decades of research on bile acids, challenges remain in the detection of disease-related bile acid isoforms due to their wide variety and structural similarity, which is also a dilemma in the widely used clinical technique of total bile acids by cyclic enzyme assay. The development of high specific recognition strategies, and sensitive analytical techniques significantly promotes the rapid accurate determination of bile acids isoforms. This review provides a comprehensive summary of research advances in bile acids recognition and analytical techniques. Importantly, current challenges and possible future directions for practical applications are also presented, which will provide new insights for future research on the precise detection of bile acid isoforms and their related disease.