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LIVER

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LIVER

WHAT IS LIVER?
  • The liver is the largest internal organ of our body.
  • It is located at the upper right-hand portion of the belly, has a reddish brown color and weighs around 3 pounds.
  • it aids in metabolism, digestion, immunity, and storage of essential nutrients within the body.
  • The liver is an essential part of the body, without the functions, the tissues in the body are liable

to die from insufficient energy and nutrient.

  • These functions also make it impossible for a person to survive without a functioning liver.
  • The liver has a considerable amount of blood flowing in it compared to another part of the body.
  • The liver uses approximately 13% of the blood flowing in the body at any given time.
  • The most important job of the liver is to filter the blood coming from the digestive tract before moving it to the rest of the body.
  • Many infectious processes can happen in the liver, including, cancer, hepatitis A & B, and damage by toxins or medications, alcohol abuse can be toxic to the liver and cause damage.

ANATOMY

  • The liver is roughly a triangular organ that is located in the right upper quadrant of the abdominal cavity, just below the diaphragm.
  • A little mass(the left lobe) of the liver sits on the stomach and the larger mass(the right lobe) is situated on the right side of the body descending lower towards the right kidney.
  • The hepatic portal vein and the hepatic artery are the two main distinct source of rich blood supply to the kidney.
  • The hepatic portal vein supplies nutrient-rich blood from the digestive tract ( stomach, intestine, and the colon) and the spleen, the hepatic artery supplies oxygenated blood from the heart.
  • The liver is divided into 2 lobes – the right and the left lobe made up of 8 segments each.
  • There are thousands of lobules in each segment.
  • The lobules are small tubes with a central vein and have branches of the portal vein and hepatic artery at the surface.
  • This all connects to ultimately form the hepatic duct.
  • The hepatic duct moves the bile created by the liver cell down to the duodenum(small intestine) or the gallbladder.
  • This bile helps to break down fat and helps digestion.

PARTS

The main component of the liver are the lobes and they are consist of:       

 LOBULES

  • The liver is made up of 2 lobes which consist of functional microscopic units called lobules which are hexagonally shaped.
  • The capillary-like tubes (sinusoids) connecting the central vein of the lobules with the surface of the portal vein and the hepatic artery carries a cell called hepatocytes. This cell makes up a major cell in the liver and performs most of the livers functions- digestion, storage, bile production and metabolism
BILE DUCTS
  • The bile duct is the tube that transports the bile to the gallbladder.
  • They form a bile structure termed the biliary tree.
THE GALLBLADDER
  • The gallbladder joins the right lobe of the liver with a connective tissue
  • The gallbladder stores the bile until needed for fat digestion
  • Bile flow is influenced by cholecystokinin hormone
BLOOD VESSEL
  • The hepatic artery and the hepatic vein makes us the blood vessel
  • They transport blood to the tissue of the liver where the blood is then divided and processed before being supplied to the rest of the body

 FUNCTIONS

Vital functions that have been identified with the liver include:

Digestion

Detoxify the body

Production of immunity that resists infection and removal of bacteria from the bloodstream

Stores and releases glucose when needed

Regulates blood clotting

Production of biles that helps carries fat through the body

Conversion of dangerous ammonia to urine

Production of vitamins and other proteins