Liver and Bile Formation Mechanisms

The monograph is devoted to modern concepts of the physiological and molecular biochemical mechanisms of bile formation and secretion. Significant progress has been made in understanding of these mechanisms due to the fundamental advances in cell and molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry over the past 50 years. To understand the processes of bile formation, it is important to know the macro- and the microstructure of the liver, the biliary tract, and their normal functioning. For this reason, monograph is started with considering of the structure and function of the liver, and its blood supply, the features of the functional hepatocytes polarity, structure of bile capillaries, ducts, and gallbladder. The composition of bile, biosynthesis and conjugation of bile acids, bile phospholipids, formation of bile micellar structures, and enterohepatic circulation of bile acids, and also the molecular physiology of the transporting systems of the hepatocyte membranes are described. Knowledge of physiological basis of bile formation has implications for understanding the mechanisms of development of pathological processes, associated with diseases of the liver and biliary tract.