Since their first discovery in 1848

Since their first discovery in 1848, BAs have been considered as intestinal detergents involved in food digestionand dietary lipid absorption (De Aguiar Vallim et al. 2013).However, this simplified version of the function of bile acidshas changed in the last two decades after the discovery thatBAs are natural ligands for critical metabolic receptors suchas FXR and TGR5. Importantly, several studies have pointedout that the ability of BAs to bind and activate receptors isdetermined by their physicochemical properties, which inturn are influenced by their biochemical structures (Monteet al. 2009).