bile salts

salt (sawlt)

1. sodium chloride, or common salt.

2. any compound of a base and an acid; any compound of an acid some of whose replaceable atoms have been substituted.

3. in the plural, a saline cathartic.

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bile salts  conjugates of glycine or taurine with bile acids, formed in the liver and secreted in the bile. They are powerful detergents that break down fat globules, enabling them to be digested.

Epsom salt  magnesium sulfate.

Glauber's salt  sodium sulfate.

oral rehydration salts  (ORS) a dry mixture of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, dextrose, and either sodium citrate or sodium bicarbonate; dissolved in water for use in treatment of dehydration.

smelling salts  aromatized ammonium carbonate; stimulant and restorative.

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bile salts

Etymology: L, bilis, bile; AS, sealt

a mixture of sodium salts of the bile acids and cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids synthesized in the liver as a derivative of cholesterol. Their low surface tension contributes to the emulsification of fats in the intestine and their absorption from the GI tract.

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bile

a clear yellow, orange or green fluid produced by the liver. It is concentrated and stored in the gallbladder, and is poured into the small intestine via the bile ducts when needed for digestion. Bile helps in alkalinizing the intestinal contents and plays a role in the digestion and absorption of fat; its chief constitutents are conjugated bile salts, cholesterol, phospholipid, bilirubin and electrolytes. See also bile duct, biliary.

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bile acids

steroid acids derived from cholesterol; classified as primary, those synthesized in the liver, e.g. cholic and chenodeoxycholic acid, or secondary, those produced from primary bile acids by intestinal bacteria and returned to the liver by enterohepatic circulation, e.g. deoxycholic and lithocholic acid.

bile acid assay

are used in the diagnosis of liver disease and portacaval shunts when there are increased levels in the blood.

bile lake

bile duct obstruction may cause distention and rupture of biliary canaliculi. Small bile lakes result causing focal hepatic necrosis.

bile passages

bile canaliculi drain into bile ductules and interlobular ducts. These unite to form a series of hepatic ducts which carry the bile to the porta where they unite to form the common hepatic duct. This duct receives a cystic duct from the gallbladder (absent in the horse) and thence becomes the bile duct.

bile peritonitis

leakage of bile from the common bile duct or gallbladder may occur as a result of trauma, including perforation during percutaneous needle biopsy of the liver, and (rarely) erosion from biliary calculi. A chemical peritonitis results and may be fatal unless surgical repair is accomplished.

bile pigment

any one of the coloring matters of the bile; they are bilirubin, biliverdin, bilifuscin, biliprasin, choleprasin, bilihumin and bilicyanin. See also urobilinogen, stercobilin.

bile pleuritis

inflammation of the pleura resulting from perforating thoracic trauma with hepatodiaphragmatic fistula or iatrogenically from percutaneous liver biopsy techniques.

bile reflux

usually refers to movement of bile from the duodenum into the stomach where it may alter the gastric mucosal barrier causing gastritis and ulceration.

bile salts

see taurocholate, chenodeoxycholic acid, glycocholic acid.

white bile

1. bile containing much mucin.

2. bile trapped in obstructed system for a long period and from which pigments have been resorbed.