Gallbladder mucosal function: Studies in absorption and secretion in humans and in dog gallbladder epithelium

The gallbladder is conventionally regarded as an absorptive organ such that dilute hepatic bile is both stored and concentrated. We studied 35 patients who had recovered from a percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage performed for acute cholecystitis. After an overnight fast, gallbladder bile was dark brown in color and had a wide scatter in the lipid composition. Two hours after a meal, the gallbladder bile was opalescent white in color and had the composition of an extracellular fluid. This phenomenon was uniformly observed in all 35 patients and was also consistently reproducible when five patients were repeatedly studied. We used normal dog gallbladder epithelial cell monolayers grown in culture and examined sodium flux. Control gallbladder cells absorbed sodium. When secretin (0.5-2.5 x 10 -7 M) was added, there was a prompt reversal of sodium flux, resulting in net secretion. We conclude that secretion is a physiological function of the gallbladder mucosa. After feeding, the neural and humoral factors divert stored and newly secreted bile into the duodenum and induce active de novo secretion thus producing a gallbladder bile that is opalescent white with no lipids. Our results also have important implications on the origin of the pathological 'white bile,' the pathogenesis and treatment of gallbladder sludge, as well as the kinetic analysis of compounds undergoing enterohepatic recirculation.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Comparison of changes in oxygenated hemoglobin during the tree-drawing task between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls

Shinya Nakano,1,2 Yoshihisa Shoji,1,3 Kiichiro Morita,1,3 Hiroyasu Igimi,1,4 Mamoru Sato,1,3 Youhei Ishii,1 Akihiko Kondo,1 Naohisa Uchimura1,3 1Cognitive and Molecular Research Institute of Brain Diseases, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Kurume University Hospital, Kurume, Japan; 3Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan; 4Department of Neuropsychiatry, Horikawa Hospital, Medical Corporation Association Horikawakai, Kurume, Japan Background: Tree-drawing test is used as a projective psychological test that expresses the abnormal internal experience in patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Despite the widely accepted view that the cognitive function is involved in characteristic tree-drawing in patients with SZ, no study has psychophysiologically examined it. The present study aimed to investigate the involvement of cognitive function during tree-drawing in patients with SZ. For that purpose, we evaluated the brain function in patients with SZ during a tree-drawing task by using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and compared them with those in healthy controls. Patients and methods: The subjects were 28 healthy controls and 28 patients with SZ. Changes in the oxygenated hemoglobin ([oxy-Hb]) concentration in both the groups during the task of drawing a tree imagined freely (free-drawing task) and the task of copying an illustration of a tree (copying task) were measured by using NIRS. Results: Because of the difference between the task conditions, [oxy-Hb] levels in controls during the free-drawing task were higher than that during the copying task at the bilateral frontal pole regions and left inferior frontal region. Because of the difference between the groups, [oxy-Hb] levels at the left middle frontal region, bilateral inferior frontal regions, bilateral inferior parietal regions, and left superior temporal region during the free-drawing task in patients were lower than that in controls. Conclusion: [oxy-Hb] during the tree-drawing task in patients with SZ was lower than that in healthy controls. Our results suggest that brain dysfunction in patients with SZ might be associated with their tree-drawing. Keywords: tree-drawing test, near-infrared spectroscopy, cognitive function, mnemonic retrieval, executive function, working memory, attentio