What is Bile and its functions ?

What is Bile?

Bile or gall could be a dark inexperienced to brownness fluid, created by the liver of most vertebrates, that aids the digestion of lipids within the intestine. In humans, bile is created incessantly by the liver (liver bile), and keep and focused within the bladder (gallbladder bile).

After eating, this stored bile is discharged into the duodenum. The composition of gallbladder bile is 97% water, 0.7% bile salts, 0.2% bilirubin, 0.51% fats (cholesterol, fatty acids and lecithin),and 200 meq/l inorganic salts.

Functions:

Bile acts to some extent as a surfactant, helping to emulsify the lipids in food. Bile salt anions are hydrophilic on one side and hydrophobic on the other side; consequently, they tend to aggregate around droplets of lipids (triglycerides and phospholipids) to form micelles, with the hydrophobic sides towards the fat and hydrophilic sides facing outwards. The hydrophilic sides are negatively charged, and this charge prevents fat droplets coated with bile from re-aggregating into larger fat particles. Ordinarily, the micelles in the duodenum have a diameter around 14–33 μm.

The dispersion of food fat into micelles provides a greatly increased surface area for the action of the enzyme pancreatic lipase, which actually digests the triglycerides, and is able to reach the fatty core through gaps between the bile salts. A triglyceride is broken down into three fatty acids and a monoglyceride, which are absorbed by the villi on the intestine walls. After being transferred across the intestinal membrane, the fatty acids reform into triglycerides (re-esterified), before being absorbed into the lymphatic system through lacteals. Without bile salts, most of the lipids in food would be excreted in faeces, undigested.

Since bile increases the absorption of fats, it is an important part of the absorption of the fat-soluble substances, such as the vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Besides its digestive function, bile serves also as the route of excretion for bilirubin, a byproduct of red blood cells recycled by the liver. Bilirubin derives from hemoglobin by glucuronidation.

Bile tends to be alkali on average. The pH of common duct bile (7.50 to 8.05) is higher than that of the corresponding gallbladder bile (6.80 to 7.65). Bile in the gallbladder becomes more acidic the longer a person goes without eating, though resting slows this fall in pH. As an alkali, it also has the function of neutralizing excess stomach acid before it enters the duodenum, the first section of the small intestine. Bile salts also act as bactericides, destroying many of the microbes that may be present in the food.

Clinical Significations:

In the absence of bile, fats become indigestible and are instead excreted in feces, a condition called steatorrhea. Feces lack their characteristic brown color and instead are white or gray, and greasy. Steatorrhea can lead to deficiencies in essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. In addition, past the small intestine (which is normally responsible for absorbing fat from food) the gastrointestinal tract and gut flora are not adapted to processing fats, leading to problems in the large intestine.

The cholesterol contained in bile will occasionally accrete into lumps in the gallbladder, forming gallstones. Cholesterol gallstones are generally treated through surgical removal of the gallbladder. However, they can sometimes be dissolved by increasing the concentration of certain naturally occurring bile acids, such as chenodeoxycholic acid and ursodeoxycholic acid.

Ursodeoxycholic or chenodeoxycholic (sometimes in combinations) is used to dissolve gallstones made of cholesterol and to treat a condition called primary biliary cirrhosis (in which the bile ducts are damaged, causing bile to accumulate in the liver, which is then damaged itself).

Bile Obstructions:

Biliary obstruction can be caused by a variety of dietary factors. Most biliary obstructions are caused by the high consumption of sugar, fat and processed foods. These foods can cause gallstones. Primarily, biliary obstruction is caused by blockage in the bile ducts. Bile ducts carry bile from the liver and gallbladder through the pancreas. A huge amount of the bile is then released into the small intestine duodenum. The remaining bile is stored in the gallbladder. After food consumption the bile in the gallbladder is released to help with digestion and fat absorption.

Foods that may be increase bile production in the liver.

• ·   Drink a glass of water with lemon upon awakening.
•     Avoid eating sugars and processed foods.
•     Consume bitter foods.
•     Drink tea made from dandelion, peppermint, green tea, or        ginger.
•     Drink buttermilk and eat yogurt.

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Written by Chandan Shrivastav on dated 15 Feb 2018

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