Bile – bile is produced in the liver and passes through the left and right hepatic ducts into the gallbladder or the common hepatic duct.
The pancreas-duct joins the common bile-duct at the sphincter of Oddi, and together they open into the duodenum.
The bile-salts are contained in bile the gallbladder’s reservoir holds, and only a little bile flows directly into the intestines. Food arriving in the duodenum triggers a number of hormonal and nervous responses that make the gallbladder contract, after which the bile enters the duodenum and mixes with the food there.
Bile has two important functions: on the one hand, it aids the digestion and absorption of fats; on the other, it carries the haemoglobin pigment of broken-down red blood cells and excess cholesterol into the small intestine, to be excreted.
