Phospholipid degradation in, and protein content of, rat fistula bile. Contamination of bile with pancreatic juice.

The extent to which pancreatic juice can contaminate bile collected from a rat with a biliary fistula has been investigated by cannulating the bile duct proximal to either the duodenum or the liver, and by stimulating pancreatic flow with secretin. Bile collected via a fistula proximal to the duodenum showed marked pancreatic contamination. Thus, bile collected via a fistula proximal to the duodenum has a higher flow rate, a greater total protein and amylase content and a different polypeptide profile than bile collected via a fistula proximal to the liver. The phospholipid content also differed in that phosphatidylcholine was converted enzymically to lysophosphatidylcholine. Secretin increased bile flow and the biliary output of total protein and amylase when the fistula was proximal to the duodenum, but had no effect upon these parameters when the fistula was proximal to the liver, or in the isolated perfused rat liver.