Gastrointestinal Tract - Gall Bladder Development

Embryology - 7 May 2024 Expand to Translate
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Introduction

Early embryonic gall bladder (Carnegie stage 13, Week 4)

This section of notes gives an overview of Gall Bladder and hillary tree development, histology and abnormalities associated with the biliary system. In the adult, the gall bladder is a site of bile salt storage and concentration, to then be released into the duodenum where they act to solubilize dietary lipids by their detergent effect. Bile salts are a cholesterol derivative (breakdown product).

The transverse septum differentiates to form the hepatic diverticulum and the hepatic primordium, these two structures together will go on to form different components of the mature liver and gall bladder.

The hepatic diverticulum divides into two parts: pars hepatica (larger cranial part, primordium of the liver) and pars cystica (smaller ventral invagination, primordium of gall bladder).

The pars cystica vacuolates and expands, the stalk becoming the cystic duct. This structure is initially hollow, then solid (by proliferation of epithelial lining), and then recanalized occurs by vacuolation of this expanded epithelium. There are several opinions as to whether the duct has a solid phase or remains patent throughout development.^[1]^[2]

Some Recent Findings

Fate mapping of gallbladder progenitors in posteroventral foregut endoderm of mouse early somite stage embryos^[3] "In early embryogenesis, the posteroventral foregut endoderm gives rise to the budding endodermal organs including the liver, ventral pancreas and gallbladder during early somitogenesis. Despite the detailed fate maps of the liver and pancreatic progenitors in the mouse foregut endoderm, the exact location of the gallbladder progenitors remains unclear. In this study, we performed a DiI fate-mapping analysis using whole-embryo cultures of mouse early somite-stage embryos. Here, we show that the majority of gallbladder progenitors in 9-11-somite-stage embryos are located in the lateral-most domain of the foregut endoderm at the first intersomite junction level along the anteroposterior axis. This definition of their location highlights a novel entry point to understanding of the molecular mechanisms of initial specification of the gallbladder."
Embryology of the biliary tract^[2] "A hepatic diverticulum appears in the ventral wall of the primitive midgut early in the 4th week of intrauterine life in the development of the human embryo. This small diverticulum is the anlage for the development of the liver, extrahepatic biliary ducts, gallbladder, and ventral pancreas. By the 5th week, all elements of the biliary tree are recognizable. Marked elongation of the common duct occurs with plugging of the lumen by epithelial cells. Recanalization of the lumen of the common duct starts at the end of the 5th week and moves slowly distally. By the 6th week, the common duct and ventral pancreatic bud rotate 180 degrees clockwise around the duodenum. Early in the 7th week, the bile and pancreatic ducts end in closed cavities of the duodenum. Between the early 8th and 12th week, hepatopancreatic ducts have both superior and inferior orifices."
Muscularis mucosae versus muscularis propria in gallbladder, cystic duct, and common bile duct: smoothelin and desmin immunohistochemical study^[4] "The muscle layer in the cystic duct and common bile duct is not well defined, and it is unresolved whether it represents muscularis mucosae or muscularis propria. ... Based on our findings, we conclude that, in the gallbladder wall, the muscle layer is muscularis propria and there is no muscularis mucosae present. In the cystic duct and common bile duct, only an attenuated and incomplete muscle layer of muscularis mucosae is present; because there is no muscularis propria, there probably is limited contractile function."

More recent papers
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Embryonic Development

Stage 13

Early embryonic gall bladder (Carnegie stage 13, Week 4)

Stage 22

Late embryonic gall bladder (Carnegie stage 22, Week 8)

Abnormalities

Infections

These mainly relate to postnatal infections. Recent studies in the mouse have identified that gastrointestinal tract listeria infections can relocate to the gall bladder and reside there, leading to later reinfection of the gastrointestinal tract.

Links: Bacterial Infection