Further Studies on the Emptying of the Gallbladder.

Abstract

In previous publications 1 , 2 on the filling and emptying of the gallbladder we came to the conclusion that two factors were especially concerned in the emptying process, namely, the ebb and flow of the bile from the liver, and elastic recoil of the gallbladder wall. While intrinsic muscular contractions were believed to play some part, they could not at that time be demonstrated.

The observations of Bovden, 3 and of Sossman. Whitaker and Edson 4 that following the administration of a fatty meal, preferably of egg-yolk and cream, the gallbladder is frequently found in a collapsed state, has shed further light on this problem, which we have reinvestigated in the experiments reported here.

We have used the method adopted by Whitaker for experimental animals. The gallbladder is exposed at operation and filled with iodized oil (iodipin) and 24 hours later the animal is recovered sufficiently for the experiment. It is then found that if the animal is starved no emptying of the gallbladder occurs for 2, 3, or more days. A meal of egg-yolk and cream, however, causes a fairly rapid discharge of the iodized oil from the gallbladder along the common duct into the duodenum. This emptying ceases usually after 3 or 4 hours at the end of which time the gallbladder, in the cat, may be completely empty. More often traces of the iodized oil are left in the gallbladder, and these may remain until a further meal is ingested.