PARTICIPATION OF BILE AND PANCREAS JUICE IN THE SECRETION OF ENDOGENOUS NITROGEN INTO THE DIGESTIVE-TRACT OF SHEEP

The amount of bile and pancreas juice excreted and the amount of urea-N and total-N discharged by the bile and pancreas juice into the duodenum was established in eight experiments with two full-grown sheep of the merino species and with a live weight of 50 kg. For this purpose they had permanent cannulae for the measuring of the passage of bile and pancreas juice which was carried out at 1-hour intervals in the course of 24 hours beginning at 7 o'clock in the morning. During 24 hours 245.3 +/- 6.3 mg urea and 4,418.1 +/- 85.8 mg total-N were discharged with bile and pancreas juice, of which 186.9 +/- 9.6 mg urea and 2,095.3 +/- 119.7 mg total-N were discharged in the bile and 58.5 mg urea-N and 2322.8 +/- 52.9 mg total-N were discharged in the pancreas juice. The amount of pancreas juice secreted and its nitrogen is constant in the course of the day (between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.) and of the night (between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.) In the daytime the secretion of bile and its nitrogen is significantly higher than at night. (p less 0.05). The concentration of urea-N and of total-N remained constant throughout the whole day. The amount of bile and pancreas juice secreted correlated greatly significantly with the amount of nitrogen (urea-N and total-N) discharged in bile and pancreas juice. The results indicate that, within the enterohepatalous circulation of endogenous urea, its secretion in bile and pancreas juice is quantitatively less important. The amount of total-N which gets from the endogenous pool into the duodenum is high and corresponds to approximately one third of the metabolic nitrogen which the animals consume daily with their feed.