PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 1218816

Gallbladder function, cholesterol stones, and bile composition.

G Antsaklis·M R Lewin·D J Sutor·A G Cowie·C G Clark
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Gallbladder bile obtained at operation from five patients with no symptoms of biliary disease was undersaturated with cholesterol in every case. However, gallbladder bile from patients with stones composed of 97-100% crystalline cholesterol was on average just saturated with cholesterol when the gallbladder was functioning and undersaturated when it was not. Regardless of gallbladder function, the patients with stones had on average significantly more cholesterol in their bile than in the control group, but the differences between the mean composition of bile from functioning and non-functioning gallbladders were not significant. Common duct bile from patients with non-functioning and functioning gallbladders was on average supersaturated with cholesterol, but there was significantly more bile salt and significantly less cholesterol in the bile from patients with non-functioning gallbladders. Only in the case of patients with functioning gallbladders did the mean composition of the common duct and gallbladder biles differ significantly. The former contained significantly more cholesterol and less bile salt than the latter. It is suggested that patients with non-functioning gallbladders may be 'autocholecystectomised' with the duct bile reverting to a more 'normal' composition.

Explore related subjects

BileBile Acids and SaltsCholelithiasisCommon Bile DuctEnterohepatic CirculationGallbladderHumansLipidsPhospholipidsComparative StudyJournal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

G Antsaklis, M R Lewin, D J Sutor, A G Cowie, C G Clark. 1975. Gallbladder function, cholesterol stones, and bile composition.. https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.16.12.937

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed1992

[Gallstones: etiology and risk factors].

Cholesterin is excreted into bile together with phospholipids and bile acids, which are essential for the formation of micelles. Cholesterin-supersaturation of the bile and a relative hyposecretion of bile acids, the presence resp. the lack of promotors and inhibitors of nucleation and a reduced gallbladder contractility are the most important factors in the formation of cholesterol stones. For the formation of pigment stones, however, an increase of bilirubin production and infection of the biliary tract are the causative factors.

Bile↗
PubMed1992

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine the micellar cholesterol in human bile.

The cholesterol of gallstones comes from the vesicular rather than the micellar phase of bile. Progress in this field has been limited because conventional analytical methods disturb the distribution of cholesterol between the two phases. The resonance of the cholesterol C6 proton occurs at a chemical shift of 5.4 ppm, to be shown by 2D NMR to be specific for biliary cholesterol, and arises only from the micellar mode. Thus integration of the C6 proton resonance peak area provides a direct non-invasive determination of the cholesterol distribution in human bile.

Bile↗
PubMed1992

Identification of hydrophobic fragments of alpha 1-antitrypsin and C1 protease inhibitor in human bile, plasma and spleen.

Hydrophobic peptides were isolated from the phospholipid fraction of human bile, plasma and spleen by exclusion chromatography in organic solvents. From plasma, the activation peptide of C1 protease inhibitor was recovered, from spleen the activation peptide of alpha 1-antitrypsin, and from bile, both these peptides, as well as a fragment generated by proteolytic cleavage of alpha 1-antitrypsin six residues N-terminal of the P1-P1' peptide bond. Cleavages in this region inactivate antiproteases but have previously not been reported to occur in vivo. These peptides in human bile may reflect physiological actions in regulation of antiproteolytic activity or bile secretion processes, and/or be of importance for the physicochemical state of cholesterol, phospholipids and bile acids in bile.

Bile↗