Digestion & Absorption of Lipids Flashcards
What is bile?
Bile is a digestive fluid produced by the liver
Bile is composed of water, electrolytes, bile acids/salts, cholesterol, phospholipids (such as lecithin), bilirubin (a waste product of red blood cell breakdown), and various other organic molecules
What is the function of bile?
Digestion & absorption of fats
Excretion of water-insoluble substances = cholesterol & bilirubin
Bile acids act as detergents to emulsify large fat globules into smaller droplets. Emulsification increases the surface area of fats, making them more accessible to digestive enzymes for breakdown and absorption.
Where is bile stored?
Gall bladder
Bile flows from the common hepatic duct into the cystic duct, which connects to the gallbladder. In the gallbladder, bile is stored and concentrated. Between meals, the gallbladder concentrates bile by removing water and electrolytes, making it more potent for fat digestion when released into the small intestine during digestion.
What triggers bile release?
When food/FA enters the duodenum (1st part of small intestine)
CCK release
Gallbladder contracts and releases stored bile through the common bile duct into the duodenum.
Bile enters the duodenum to aid in the digestion and absorption of fats and fat-soluble nutrients from ingested food
What is bile copmosed of?
Primary and secondary bile acids
Bile pigments
Phospholipids
Electrolytes
Name primary bile acids and how they are formed
Cholic and chenodeoxycholid acids
Synthesized from cholesterol = more water soluble than cholesterol
What happens to primary bile acids in ileum?
Actively reabsored in ileum
Name secondary bile acids and how they are formed
Deoxycholic and lithocholic acids
Deconjugations and dehydroxlation fo primary bile acids by intestinal bacteria
Name bile pigments
Biliirubin & biliverdin = metabolites of haemoglobin
For excretion = yellow colour of bile
What causes brown colour of stool?
Bacteria convert bilirubin to urobilin
Describe the phospholipids that make up bile acids
Most lecithins = 2nd most abundant organic bile compound
Amphipathic
What is the role of phospholipids?
Increase cholesterol solubilization in bile micelles
Stabilizing the crude triglyceride emulsion
What is added to bile acids to make bile salts?
Bile acids conjugated with glycine or taurine = bile salts
What is the difference between bile acids and bile salts?
Bile salts are my hydrophilic because of the glycine or taurine conjugated
What is the more hydrophilic conjugate for bile acids?
Taurine is more hydrophilic than glycine
What properties does bile acid conjugation alter?
More amphiphatic
Resistant to hydrolysis by pancratic enzymes
Define amphiphatic
Refers to a molecule or structure that contains both hydrophilic (water-attracting) and hydrophobic (water-repelling) regions within the same molecule or structure.
What does being amphiphatic alter?
Easier to form micelles = aid in fat absorption
Reabsorb poorly = stay in gut longer
What does the enterohepatic circulation do?
Recycle bile from small intestine to liver and back again