GALLBLADDER

Question 1

Gallbladder

Answer 1

a pear-shaped sac on underside of liver

serves to store and concentrate bile

10 cm long

Question 2

Bile

Answer 2

yellow-green fluid containing minerals, cholesterol, neutral fats, phospholipids, bile pigments, and bile acids

Question 3

Bile acids

Answer 3

• liver secretes about 500 to 1,000 mL of bile daily
• 80% of bile acids are reabsorbed in the ileum and returned to the liver
• hepatocytes absorb and resecrete them
• enterohepatic circulation—route of secretion, reabsorption, and resecretion of bile acids two or more times during digestion of an average meal
• 20% of the bile acids are excreted in the feces
• body’s only way of eliminating excess cholesterol
• liver synthesizes new bile acids from cholesterol to replace those lost in feces