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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 .
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 liver is also an accessory digestive organ that produces bile, an alkaline fluid containing cholesterol and bile acids, which emulsifies and aids the breakdown of dietary fat. The gallbladder , a small hollow pouch that sits just under the right lobe of liver, stores and concentrates the bile produced by the liver, which is later excreted ...
Bile is secreted by the liver into small ducts that join to form the common hepatic duct. [4] Between meals, secreted bile is stored in the gallbladder. [ 5 ] During a meal, the bile is secreted into the duodenum (part of the small intestine) to rid the body of waste stored in the bile as well as aid in the absorption of dietary fats and oils .
There, hepatocytes extract bile acids very efficiently, and little escapes the healthy liver into systemic circulation. The net effect of enterohepatic recirculation is that each bile salt molecule is reused about 20 times, often multiple times during a single digestive phase.
This fluid is composed of four primary components: ions, digestive enzymes, mucus, and bile. About half of these fluids are secreted by the salivary glands, pancreas, and liver, which compose the accessory organs and glands of the digestive system. The rest of the fluid is secreted by the GI epithelial cells.
The bile duct is some 6–8 cm long, and normally up to 8 mm in diameter. [4]Its proximal supraduodenal part is situated within the free edge of the lesser omentum.Its middle retroduodenal part is oriented inferiorly and right-ward, and is situated posterior to the first part of the duodenum, and anterior to the inferior vena cava.
Articles reating to the liver, a major organ, only found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth.