Week 2 GI Lectures Flashcards
Where is bile generated and stored?
Generated in the liver
Stored in the gallbladder
What are the components of bile?
Bicarbonate cholesterol phospholipids bile pigments bile salts
What is the lifespan of a RBC?
120days
What is the daily turnover of Hb?
6g/day
what are the globin monomers from Hb broken down to?
To their constituent amino acids and recycled
What is the porphyrin ring converted to?
Bilirubin
What is converted into bilirubin?
The porphyrin ring
Why is the porphyrin ring converted to bilirubin?
For transport to the liver for modification and excretion
What changes haem into biliverdin?
Haem oxygenase
What are the different stages before the final product of bilirubin is made?
Haem –> biliverdin –> unconjugated bilirubin –> conjugated bilirubin
How is biliverdin changed into bilirubin?
Biliverdin reductase
What colour is bilirubin?
An orange/ yellow pigment
What is responsible for conjugating bilirubin?
UDP Glucuronyl transferase
What happens when bilirubin become conjugated?
It becomes hydrophilic
What are the three things that U-bilirubin can turn into?
Mesobilinogen
Stercobilinogen
Urobilinogen
What does Mesobilinogen turn into and how?
Intestinal microflora in the large intestine turns it into mesobilin
What does Stercobilinogen
turn into and how?
Intestinal microflora in the large intestine turns it into stercobilin
What does Urobilinogen turn into and how?
Intestinal microflora in the large intestine turns it into Urobilin
Why are bile salts/acids required?
Oil and water don’t mix so they act as biological emulsifiers
What is emulsification?
The breakdown of large lipid droplets into small uniformly distributed droplets (1mm or 1000nm) that helps lipase break down triglyceride
What does the hydrophobic portion of bile salts/acid bind to?
It binds to and disperses large triglyceride lipid droplets
What does the hydrophobic portion of bile salts/acid prevent?
Prevents large droplets reforming
What are the lipid soluble vitamins?
A
D
E
K
What are micelles?
Very small lipid aggregates with hydrophilic (polar) head groups on the outside and hydrophobic (non-polar) tails pointing in
What are micelles made up of?
Bile salts, fatty acids, monoglycerides, phospholipids, cholesterol and fat soluble vitamins
What happens when micelles constantly break down and reform?
The contents are released each time and some diffuse across the intestinal lining
Where do TAGs reform?
They reform in epithelial cells and are packaged into chylomicrons which enter the blood via the lymph
Where do the bile salts emulsify the fat globules?
In the intestines
What does the digestion of the emulsion droplets by lipases form?
Free fatty acids (monoglycerides) and bile salts
What do the bile salts do to free fatty acids (Monoglycerides)?
Form micelles
What do absorbed free fatty acids form?
Triglycerides
What are the free fatty acids that are absorbed and formed into triglycerides packaged into?
Packaged into chylomicrons for secretion in lacteals
Is the sphincter of Oddi contracted or relaxed during the Interdigestive period?
Contracted
What is the Interdigestive period?
The time between meals
What is the sphincter of Oddi?
A muscular valve that controls the flow of bile and pancreatic fluid into the duodenum
How is bile concentrated?
Epithelial cells reabsorb water and electrolytes
What does fatty acids and amino acids entering the duodenum after a meal stimulate?
Enteroendocrine cells to release CCK
What does CCK stimulate?
Contraction of the gallbladder smooth muscle and relaxation of the sphincter of Oddi
What does acidic chyme in the duodenum stimulate?
Release of secretin fron endocrine cells
What does secretin do?
Stimulates duct cells in the liver to release bicarbonate into the bile which neutralises acid and stimulates bile production
Why do bile salts need to be recycled by the enterohepatic circulation?
Bile salts in the body are not enough to fully process the fats in a typical meal
Where do transporters move bile salts?
From the digestive tract to the intestinal capillaries
Where do bile salts go after they reach intestinal capillaries?
Transported to the liver via the hepatic portal vein
What takes up the bile salts from the blood?
Hepatocytes
What is hyperbilirubinaemia?
Too much bilirubin in the blood
What is jaundice?
Yellowing that is most common in the eyes and sometimes the skin caused by elevated levels of bilirubin
What level of total bilirubin may jaundice be visible in the sclera?
over 30mmol/L
What level of total bilirubin may jaundice be visible in the skin?
Over 100 mmol/L
What is prehepatic jaundice?
Jaundice with the cause before the liver (elevated haemolysis)
What is hepatic jaundice?
The cause of the jaundice is in the liver (liver damage)
What is post hepatic jaundice?
The cause of the jaundice is after the liver (blockage of bile ducts)
What can be used to distinguish between groupings?
Proportion of unconjugated: conjugated bilirubin
What can cause pre-hepatic jaundice?
- tropical diseases e.g. yellow fever
- side effect of quinine based anit-malarial drugs
- genetic disorders that aare associated with increased haemolysis (e.g. sickle cell)
Why does pre-hepatic jaundice happen?
More RBC breakdown
More haemoglobin
More bilirubin produced (unconjugated bilirubin)
What is neonatal jaundice?
common and usually harmless jaundice of new-born babies
What causes neonatal jaundice?
- After birth, new-borns must destroy foetal haemoglobin and replace with adult haemoglobin, RBCs have short lifespan
- Undeveloped liver (with lack of glucuronyl transferase) has insufficient capacity to cope with elevated haemolysis
- Inhibitors of conjugation in breast milk
- Bilirubin peaks at 3-5 days and lasts < 14 days
How is neonatal jaundice treated?
phototherapy - blue light changes unconjugated bilirubin to a water soluble form that can be excreted
What organ takes up unconjugated bilirubin?
The liver takes up unconjugated bilirubin, conjugates it and exports it to the gall bladder
What are the three problems that can cause hepatic jaundice?
- impaired uptake of unconjugated bilirubin
- impaired conjugation of bilirubin
- Impaired transport of conjugated bilirubin into bile canaliculi
What causes post hepatic jaundice?
Conditions associated with obstruction of hepatic, cystic or common bile duct - prevention of bile being released into the small intestine (cholestasis)
What does the severity of gallstone symptoms depend on?
Their location and size, they become increasingly problematic when gallbladder contractions cause stones to move further along the bile ducts
What are the symptoms of gallstones in the cystic bile duct?
Painful contractions
What are the symptoms of gallstones in the common bile duct?
Steatorrhea, grey faeces, post hepatic jaundice
What are the symptoms of gallstones in the Duodenal papilla?
Malnutrition, acute pancreatitis
What is the duodenal papilla?
Opening of the pancreatic duct into the duodenum, surrounded by the sphincter of Oddi
What is vitamin K required for?
Efficient coagulation
What is GGCX?
g-glutamyl carboxylase
What is GGCX required for?
To make active coagulation factors II VII IX and X
What is the plasma unconjugated bilirubin like in prehepatic jaundice?
Very high
What is the plasma unconjugated bilirubin like in hepatic jaundice?
A bit high
What is the plasma unconjugated bilirubin like in post hepatic jaundice?
Normal
What is plasma conjugated bilirubin like in pre-hepatic jaundice?
Normal or a bit high
What is plasma conjugated bilirubin like in hepatic jaundice?
Moderately raised
What is plasma conjugated bilirubin like in post hepatic jaundice?
very high
What is the urine conjugated bilirubin like in pre-hepatic jaundice?
Normal (absent)
What is the urine conjugated bilirubin like in hepatic jaundice?
Slightly raised
What is the urine conjugated bilirubin like in post-hepatic jaundice?
Moderately raised
What is the urine urobilinogen/urobilin like in post-hepatic jaundice?
absent
What is the urine urobilinogen/urobilin like in hepatic jaundice?
Slightly raised
What is the urine urobilinogen/urobilin like in pre-hepatic jaundice?
Slightly raised
What is the stercobilin in the faeces like in pre-hepatic jaundice?
Slightly raised
What is the stercobilin in the faeces like in hepatic jaundice?
normal
What is the stercobilin in the faeces like in post-hepatic jaundice?
Absent
What are the steps for measuring direct (conjugated) bilirubin?
- Add diazo reagent to serum.
- Conjugated bilirubin converted to blue/purple diazo derivative of bilirubin (Azobilirubin).
- NB unconjugated bilirubin bound to albumin as not water soluble so does not react with diazo reagent - Measurement of absorbance @ 530-545 nm proportional to conjugated bilirubin (not unconjugated).
- Compare to known standards to calculate concentration
What are the steps for measuring total bilirubin?
- Add diazo reagent with caffeine to serum.
- Caffeine displaces unconjugated bilirubin from albumin.
- Free unconjugated bilirubin can now react with the diazo reagent - Both conjugated and unconjugated bilirubin converted to blue/purple diazo derivative of bilirubin (Azobilirubin).
- Measurement of absorbance @ 530-545 nm proportional to BOTH conjugated and unconjugated bilirubin
- Compare to known standards to calculate concentration
Is bile pigment measured in faeces?
No - a waste of time/money and visual inspection is easy
Summarise the three types of jaundice
Pre-hepatic = due to elevated haemolysis e.g. Neonatal jaundice Hepatic = conditions associated with liver damage e.g Hepatitis Post-hepatic = blockage in bile release into the intestines e.g Gallstones