Location and structure of the biliary system – the gallbladder (vesica fellea/biliaris) is an unpaired, greenish, pear-shaped hollow organ located beneath the liver, which stores the bile produced in the liver and needed for digesting fats between meals.
The bile system consists of the fundus (fundus vesicae biliaris), the body (corpus vesicae biliaris; cylindrical, narrowing towards the neck), the infundibulum (the funnel-shaped part between the body and the neck of the gallbladder), the neck (collum vesicae biliaris; cylindrical, 1–7 mm long), and the ductus cysticus (connecting the gallbladder’s neck to the main bile duct, into which it opens).
The spiral folds of the lining in the neck and the initial section of the cystic duct are called the valves of Heister.
This is not a true sphincter but only a functional closing ring, as the closing function is provided by the particular arrangement of the lining.
