Effect of enterohepatic circulation on bile production in regenerating liver.

In an investigation of the role of portal blood flow in bile production and of changes in the enterohepatic circulation of bile in the regenerating liver, various branches of the portal vein were ligated in dogs, bile was collected from the liver lobes supplied by ligated and by nonligated portal branches, and the composition of the bile was analyzed. 1. Bile flow and bilirubin excretion from the ligated, atrophic liver lobes decreased with a disappearance of glycine-conjugated bile acids, but bilirubin excretion and especially bile flow increased greatly without any changes in bile acids composition in the nonligated, regenerating liver lobes as the portal blood flow to them per liver weight increased. 2. Infusion of gallbladder bile into the terminal ileum stimulated bile secretion in the nonligated lobes in the postoperative period, but not in the ligated lobes except immediately after the ligation of the portal vein branches supplying two-thirds of the liver. These findings indicate that bile secretion by the ligated lobes could be stimulated via the hepatic artery and the nonligated lobes might be via both the portal vein and the hepatic artery after the infusion during early postoperative period.