Exam 2 - Liver And Pancreas Flashcards
Increased levels of bilirubin cause
Jaundice (icterus)
Serum bilirubin levels are abnormal when they exceed _____ however skin discoloration is not apparent until _____
Excess serum bilirubin level: 1.2 mg/dl
Skin discoloration: 2-3 mg/dl
How much bilirubin is formed daily?
250-350 mg
Within the hepatocyte, billirubin is…
- Conjugated with glucuronide to form billirubine diglucuronide secreted in bile
- This post-hepatic or conjugated billirubin is water-soluble and enters urine when serum levels are atypically high
- Billirubin in bile reaches intestines and is acted upon by bacteria to form stercobilin, a pigment of stool
- Portions of urobilin are absorped by intestines and after reaching circulation, some of this appears as urinary urobilin (urobilinogen)
Indirect vs direct bilirubin
Indirect: unconjugated, prehepatic
Direct: conjugated, posthepatic
Is prehepatic or posthepatic bilirubin insoluble in water?
Prehepatic bilirubin = unconjugated
Note: Posthepatic / conjugated bilirubin is water soluble and so it DOES appear in urine.
Obstructive jaundice (cholestasis) is caused by what?
Biliary obstruction
So bile “spills over” into tissue. Components are absorbed by circulation. Accumulated bilirubin is predominantly conjugated.
Jaundice associated with liver damage or dysfunction is often known as
Hepatic (hepatomegaly-cellular) jaundice
Causes of Hepatic (hepatomegaly-cellular) jaundice include
Cirrhosis, hepatitis, liver infarcts, toxic injury and defects in assimilation, conjugation and transport of bilirubin into bile
Atypically high conjugated bilirubin leads to a type of jaundice called
Choluric jaundice
Diffuses freely into blood and tissue fluids
Why are newborns often jaundice?
The hepatic mechanisms for conjugating and excreting often do not mature until about 2 weeks of age.
Mild unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia is frequent in young infarcts, especially premature and underweight.
Kernicterus
Infantile severe unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia with brain damage
What kind of bilirubin DOES enter the urine
Conjugated bilirubin
Acholuric jaundice
Unconjugated bilirubin that does not enter urine
3 Stages of cirrhosis
1- Fatty liver stage (fatty metamorphosis)
2- Alcoholic hepatitis
3- Cirrhosis (fibrosis) “end stage”
Mallory bodies are seen in which stage of liver disease
Alcoholic hepatitis
Biliary cirrhosis
Most damage occurs in periportal areas that surround bile ducts
“Pigment” cirrhosis is associated with
Hemachromatosis “bronze diabetes”
Accumulated iron and injury to hepatocytes and hepatic scarring
Hemosiderin
Insoluble aggregates consisting of degraded ferritin
Deposits are common in macrophages of the liver, spleen and marrow and hepatocytes
Systemic iron overload
Deposits accumulate and damage parenchymal tissues.
Causes of systemic iron overload:
Unregulated intestinal absorption, hemolytic anemia, multiple transfusions
Hemochromatosis “bronze diabetes” triad
Cirrhosis
Pancreatic fibrosis
Bronzed skin
(Also causes atypical arthritis)
What is the primary reason for hemochromatosis
Defect in chromosome 6 that affects regulation of intestinal absorption of iron
Secondary hemochromatosis may result from
Chronic hemolytic disorders and/or multiple transfusions
What is characterized by increased tissue iron generally limited to the macrophages with little effect on parenchyma
Hemosiderosis
Versus hemochromatosis which is asssociated with damaging parenchymal tissue deposits
Treatment (2) of hemochromatosis
Phlebotomy
Dietary restriction of iron
Hepatolenticular degeneration
Wilson’s disease
What condition is associated with disturbances in regulation of copper transport and excretion into bile
Wilson’s disease
In Wilson’s disease, copper accumulates in (4)
Liver, brain, eyes, kidneys
In Wilson’s disease, copper is deposited where in the eye and what is this called
Cornea-sclera junction; Kaiser Fleischer ring
Cholelithiasis (lith = stone)
Gall stones
4F risks of cholelithiasis
Female
Fat
Forty (older than)
Fertile
(And the 5th is Flatulence)
What are contributing factors of abnormal bile?
Hypercholesterolemia
Inadequate levels of bile acids
Hemolytic disease with hyperbilirubinemia
How does Hypercholesterolemia contribute to abnormal bile?
Causes chemical injury to gall bladder mucosa
Cholesterol absorbed by gall bladder diminishes motility of musculature and gives rise to “sluggish” gall bladder