The bile is discharged into the duodenum (first part of the small intestine, where most of digestion occurs), where it consequently aids the process of fat digestion.
Bile acids are steroid compounds (deoxycholic and cholic acid), often combined with the amino acids glycine and taurine.
Bile acids are facial amphipathic, meaning they contain both hydrophobic (lipid soluble) and hydrophilic (water soluble) components.
The cellular mechanisms underlying bile acid–induced relaxation are largely unknown; however, it is known that natural bile acids and synthetic analogues reversibly increase BKCa channel activity in smooth muscle cells.
The gallbladder stores and concentrates bile during the fasting state (between meals).
Bile acid sequestrants are medications that can aid in the removal of cholesterol from the blood in order to prevent cholelithiasis.
Bile salts associate their hydrophobic side with lipids and their hydrophilic side with water.
The presence of gallbladders to store bile, while found in each of these classes of vertebrates, is not as widespread.
The body converts free cholesterol to the bile acids cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids.
A major population of Parsis call the city home, and a community of 300 Bene Israel Jews live in Ahmedabad.
Bile (or gall) is a thick, greenish-yellow alkaline (pH > 7) fluid that assists in digestion by breaking down fats, mostly triglycerides, into monoglycerides and fatty acids.
Aside from its digestive function as an emulsifier, bile serves as the route for excretion of the hemoglobin breakdown product bilirubin, which gives bile its yellowish color, and for elimination of cholesterol as well.
Bile is also valuable in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and the elimination of waste products, which are secreted into the bile and eliminated in feces.
Bile salts function by combining with phospholipids to break down large fat globules in a process known as emulsification.
Bile acids have also been reported to produce relaxation of smooth muscle both in vitro and in vivo.
Bile acids act as detergents, helping to emulsify fats by increasing their surface area in order to help enzyme action; thus bile acids and salts aid in the absorption of fats in the small intestine.
Bear bile contains ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which is believed by practitioners to reduce fever, protect the liver, remedy kidney aliments, improve eyesight, break down gallstones, and act as an anti-inflammatory.
Yellow bile, sometimes called ichor, along with black bile, were two of the four vital fluids, or humors, of ancient and medieval medicine.
The collection of bile from bears kept in captivity in China and Vietnam, for commercial use, represent cases of terrible human cruelty to animals.