Bile
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- Bile
- Mixture of bile salts and cholesterol
- Manufactured in the liver
- Stored in the gallbladder
- Until the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) signals its release
- Released into the duodenum
- Function
- Bile salts emulsify fats in the duodenum, which breaks them down into smaller hydrophilic micelles
- Micelles are needed because fat clumps together in aqueous intestinal fluid, which reduces the surface area on which the pancreatic enzyme lipase can act
- Bile salts emulsify fats in the duodenum, which breaks them down into smaller hydrophilic micelles