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Bile (from Latin bilis), or gall, is a yellow-green/misty green fluid produced by the liver of most vertebrates that aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In humans, bile is primarily composed of water , is produced continuously by the liver, and is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder .
The function of the common bile duct is to allow bile to travel from the gallbladder to the small intestine, mixing with pancreatic digestive enzymes along the way. [4] One possible complication of choledocholithiasis is an infection of the bile ducts between the liver and the gallstone lodged in the common bile duct.
Bile produced by the liver is made up of water (97%), bile salts, mucus and pigments, 1% fats and inorganic salts. [25] Bilirubin is its major pigment. Bile acts partly as a surfactant which lowers the surface tension between either two liquids or a solid and a liquid and helps to emulsify the fats in the chyme.
Bile is formed of three elements: bile salts, bilirubin and cholesterol. Bilirubin is a waste product of the breakdown of hemoglobin. The cholesterol present is secreted with the feces. The bile salt component is an active non-enzymatic substance that facilitates fat absorption by helping it to form an emulsion with water due to its amphoteric ...
These bile acids travel to the gall bladder during the interdigestive phase for storage and to the descending part of the duodenum via the common bile duct through the major duodenal papilla during digestion. 95% of the bile acids which are delivered to the duodenum will be recycled by the enterohepatic circulation.
Bile is required for the digestion of food and is secreted by the liver into passages that carry bile toward the hepatic duct. It joins the cystic duct (carrying bile to and from the gallbladder ) to form the common bile duct which then opens into the intestine .
The enterohepatic circulation of bile acids may be altered and there is an increased flow of bile acids to the cecum, where they are deconjugated and 7alpha-dehydroxylated. These water-soluble form, bile acids e.g., deoxycholic and lithocholic are adsorbed to dietary fiber and an increased fecal loss of sterols, dependent in part on the amount ...
The bile is then released via the common bile duct into the duodenum, where the bile helps in the digestion of fats. The gallbladder can be affected by gallstones , formed by material that cannot be dissolved – usually cholesterol or bilirubin , a product of hemoglobin breakdown.