THE INFLUENCE OF BILE ON METABOLISM
Authors: Joslin Elliott P. 
Published: June 2004

1. Bile increases the digestion of fat when given by the mouth in pill form. The percentage of fat lost in the stools of our patient with a complete biliary fistula was 63 per cent in the first period and 57 per cent in the third. This closely corresponds to the results that Müller obtained in human beings and dogs with complete obstruction of the common duct. Under bile medication the stools contained 23 per cent less fat than in the first period, and 17 per cent less than in the third. This represents an actual diminution of the amount of fat lost in the stools. Looking at the result in another way, it may be said that the average digestion of fat in the periods without bile was 40 per cent; in the periods with bile, 60 per cent, i. e., bile increased the digestion of fat relatively by 50 per cent.

2. The digestion of nitrogenous food is improved by the use of bile pills when the amount of fat in the stools is large. Instead of an average of 15 per cent being lost in the fæces, but 7 per cent escaped digestion during the four days the patient took bile. The reason for this, perhaps, lies in the better digestion of fat at this time, in consequence of which the proteid elements of the food were more thoroughly exposed to the digestive juices.

3. Ox bile is a cholagogue. The amount of bile-solids secreted in the bile period was 47 per cent greater than in the periods before and after. This confirms the work of Pfaff and Balch, here in Boston, on a human being, and that of Stadelmann and his pupils, in Germany, on dogs.

4. The effect of the bile on the bowels in this case was not remarkable, although they moved more satisfactorily during the bile period. In my experiments with dogs I usually obtained diarrhœa when giving bile. I do not feel sure, however, that this should be attributed wholly to the medication, for the diarrhœas as a rule appeared six or more days after the beginning of the experiment and the animals were then in poor condition. Dr. Pfaff, who has had more experience with the administration of bile than I, tells me that he has found its action variable in patients. In some cases it is a laxative; in others, in which there is diarrhœa, due apparently to large amounts of fat in the food, it has the opposite effect.

5. As to the general effect of bile on body metabolism, it was observed that the urea and nitrogen were excreted in greater amount in the bile period than in either of the others. No definite conclusions can be drawn from this fact, because more nitrogen was ingested during these four days; moreover, it must be borne in mind that in these results the salol may have been a factor.

6. The amount of urine was increased by more than 50 per cent in the bile period. It is interesting to note that the amount was about the same during this bile period as in the second experiment when the bile was again taking its natural course. Von Noorden has recorded a similar increase in the amount of urine following the removal of the obstruction in acute catarrhal jaundice. The salol coating of the bile pills, which amounted to one and a quarter grammes a day, is not sufficient to account for this effect. This is evident from the work of Kumagawa, who gave two grammes of sodium salicylate daily to a dog of 25 kilos without essentially changing the amount of urine secreted. On the other hand, in taking the 30 pills daily the patient drank several extra glasses of water, and in the second experiment her general condition was naturally better than at any other time.