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B

Bile

Bile (or gall) is a dark green to brownish fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder (a small green hollow organ between the liver and the small intestines). Bile, that is consistent of so-called bile salts (anions of the steroid-derived bile acids), acts as a surfactant to bind and excrete fats, but also many liver metabolites of drugs, into the gastrointestinal system.

Binding efficiency

The efficiency of binding to a biomolecular target can be expressed by various different (but somewhat similar) quantitative descriptors, depending on the target and the activity assay performed. 

Common descriptors for the assessment of inhibitors include the 

  • IC50 (the half-maximal inhibitory concentration, i.e. the concentration of a molecule that results in a 50% decrease in observable response from a biomolecular process), or the
  • Ki (the inhibition constant that is related to the IC50 but takes into account the art of inhibition, i.e. competitive vs non-competitive inhibition).
Similarly, when the target is a receptor, efficacy of binding is expressed by the relative ability to produce a maximum response, but can also be referred to by the potency

  • EC50 (the half-maximal effective concentration, i.e. the concentration of a molecule that yields a 50% response on a dose/response curve).

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