Gall Bladder – The Non Vital But Important Organ Of Our Body

by: Richard Moris

The gallbladder is a small pear shaped non vital organ of the body that aids in the digestive process and concentrate bile products in the liver. The gall bladder is connected to the liver with the hepatic duct. The size of the gall bladder is around three to four inches in length and one inch wide. The total diameter of the gallbladder is of four centimeters when fully distended.

Actually, the gall bladder is a hollow organ and it sits in the concavity of the liver that is also known as gallbladder fossa. Gallbladder is divided into the three sections neck, body and fundus. The neck connects to the biliary tree through the cystic duct, which then joins the common hepatic duct to become the common bile duct.

Functionality of Gallbladder:

The main function of the gallbladder is to store and concentrate the bile. It stores around 50 ml of bile. Bile is a digestive liquid and it is continually secreted by the liver. Bile becomes more concentrated after it is stored in the gallbladder then when it was in a lever. Most of the digestion happens in duodenum. The bile emulsifies the fat that neutralizes the acids in a partly digested food. A muscular valve in the common bile duct opens and the bile flows from gallbladder into cystic duct along the common bile duct and into the duodenum that is part of the small intestine.

Most of the vertebrates have gallbladders while invertebrates do not. This happens because vertebrates eat in the blouses while invertebrates are constantly eating. To digest a large portion of food requires a big amount of digestive secretions, so it results in the presence of a gallbladder.

The shape of a gallbladder is like a pear, although the organ’s function and shape vary considerably among other mammals and species. In fact, in some of the species, the gall bladder is not present.

Different layers of Gallbladder:

- Gallbladder has a simple columnar epithelial lining characterized by recesses that is also called as Aschoff’s recesses that are pouched inside the lining.

- There is a layer of connective tissues under the epithelium.

- Beneath these connective tissues, there is a wall of smooth muscle that contracts in the response to cholecystokinin, a peptide hormone secreted by duodenum.

- There is no submucosa separating the connective tissue from the adventitia and serosa but there is a thin lining of muscular tissue to prevent the infection.

Disease of the Gallbladder:

Sometimes the instances contained in bile crystallize in the gallbladder and that forms the gall stones. These small and hard concretions are more common in the people with the age more than 40 especially women and the people who are obese. These stones create the inflammation of a gallbladder that produces the symptoms that are similar to the indigestion after a fatty meal. If the stone becomes lodged in the bile duct, it creates lot of pain in a body. It is possible that the gallstones may pass out from the body instantly but in a case of serious blockage, stone is removed by a surgery.