3-Hydroxy fatty acids in faeces of patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis as a non-invasive diagnostic approach

Figures & data

Table I.  Characteristics of patients.

Status	n	Characteristics	Remission/active disease
Crohn's disease	6	Gender (M/F): 3/3 Age: mean 37.6 years; range 22–49	1/6
Ulcerative colitis	5	Gender (M/F): 1/4 Age: mean 38.8 years; range 21–63	0/5
Controls (healthy individuals)	6	Gender (M/F): 1/5 Age: mean 66.5 years; range 53–80	–

Figure 1.  Relative amounts (%) of some selected 3-hydroxy fatty acids in faeces of healthy individuals (Controls), patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Upper left, 3-OH ai-C_15:0 (*UC versus Controls, p=0.009); upper right, 3-OH n-C_17:0 (*Controls versus CD, p=0.011, **UC versus CD, p=0.026); lower left, 3-OH i-C_18:0 (*Controls versus CD, p=0.004, **UC versus CD, p=0.026); lower right, 3-OH n-C_18:0 (^*Controls versus CD, p=0.017).

Table II.  Relative percentages (mean) and standard deviations (SD) of saturated 3-hydroxy fatty acids, with indicated carbon chain lengths, in faeces of healthy individuals (C) and of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).

	n*C10		nC11		nC12		nC13		nC14
Group of individuals	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
C	0.01	0.02	0.11	0.23	0.72	0.46	1.47	2.63	8.01	4.86
CD	0.00	0	0.24	0.51	1.13	0.87	1.37	1.69	12.30	9.28
UC	0.00	0	0.13	0.27	0.57	0.34	0.74	0.63	4.6	4.6
	i*C15		ai*C15†		nC15		aiC16		NC16
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
C	0.61	0.2	0.17	0.03	4.39	1.24	3.04	1.55	33.84	9.21
CD	0.84	0.57	0.58	0.7	3.69	3.49	1.93	0.81	37.13	5.72
UC	0.77	0.43	0.63	0.64	4.29	2.15	2.51	1.13	34.06	11.81
	iC17		aiC17		nC17†		iC18†		nC18†
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
C	24.81	5.27	7.45	3.09	11.28	4.82	0.9	0.56	3.18	1.85
CD	29.99	7.73	4.65	1.69	4.47	2.32	0.05	0.07	1.62	1.66
UC	24.64	7	10.07	11.14	11.11	5.66	1.34	1.47	2.67	3.56

*n, normal; i, iso-branched-chain acid; ai, anteiso-branched-chain acid.

†Acids exhibiting significant differences in relative amounts between the groups of individuals are highlighted in italics.

Figure 2.  Relative amounts (%) of the studied 3-hydroxy fatty acids in faeces of one patient with active

and inactive

CD.