Bile-facilitated digestion of fats

Question 1

What is bile?

Answer 1

A yellow-green fluid produced by hepatocytes, stored in gallbladder.

Question 2

Function of bile?

Answer 2

Secreted into duodenum –> detergent, emulsification of fats. Increases the surface area to help the enzyme actions and absorption in SI.

Question 3

Principal components of bile?

Answer 3

water, cholesterol, phospholipids (lecithin), bile pigment(bilirubin, biliverdin), bile salts (sodium glycocholate, sodium taurocholate) and inorganic salts.

Question 4

Function of liver?

Answer 4

Formation of bile –> lipid emulsification, lipase activation
Synthetic functions–> serum proteins, blood clotting
Storage function–> glycogen, triglycerides, iron, copper, fat soluble vitamins (ADEK)
Catabolic functions–> enterohepatic transport (detoxification)

Question 5

Bile secretion may be increased by?

Answer 5

Chemical mechanism–> all choleteric substances (bile salts)
Hormonal mechanism–> secretin
Neural mechanism–> N. Vagus

Question 6

How much bile is secreted by the liver each day?

Answer 6

500 - 1000 mL of bile.

Question 7

How much of the bile is reabsorbed and where?

Answer 7

95%, in last part of SI (ileum) –> returned to liver for re-use.