Liver: anatomy & functions
Pavle Peić Tukuljac
Mentor: A. Žmegač Horvat
Anatomy
• Largest gland in the body (1.5 Kg)
• Under the diaphragm, within the rib
cage in the upper right quadrant of the
abdomen
Anatomy
•4 Lobes
Major: left and right
Minor: caudate and
quadrate
•Ducts
Common hepatic
Cystic
From gallbladder
Common bile Choledochus
Joins pancreatic duct at
hepatopancreatic ampulla
GALLBLADDER ANATOMY
GALLBLADDER ANATOMY
• Thin-walled green
muscular sac
• On the inferior surface of
the liver
• Stores bile that is not
immediately needed for
digestion
• When the muscular wall of
the gallbladder contracts
bile is expelled into the bile
duct
LIVER
GALL
BLADDER
BILE
• BILE – bile salts, bile
pigments, cholesterol,
neutral fats, phospholipids
and electrolytes
• Liver produces 0.5-1 l of
bile daily
• Bile salts emulsify fats
LIVER
GALL
BLADDER
LIVER ANATOMY
• Liver lobules – hexagonal
structures consisting of
hepatocytes
• Hepatocytes radiate
outward from a central
vein
• At each of the six
corners of a lobule is a
portal triad
• Liver sinusoids
LIVER ANATOMY
• Hepatocytes produce bile
• Bile flows through canals
called bile canaliculi to a
bile duct
• Bile ducts leave the liver
via the common hepatic
duct
LIVER ANATOMY
20 %
80 %
Functions
• Metabolic
Synthesis
Breakdown
Other functions – storage of vitamin A,D,B12,F…
• Excretion of waste products from bloodstream
into bile
• Vascular – storage of blood
Synthesis
• Protein metabolism
 Synthesis of amino acids
• Carbohydrate metabolism
 Gluconeogenesis
 Glycogenolysis
 Glycogenesis
• Lipid metabolism
 Cholesterol synthesis
 Lipogenesis
• Production of coagulation factors I, II, V, VII, IX, X and XI,
and protein C, protein S and antithrombin
• Main site of red blood cell production
• Produces insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a polypeptide
protein – anabolic effects
• Production of trombopoetin
Breakdown
• Breaks down insulin and other hormones
• Breaks down hemoglobin
• Breaks down or modifies toxic substances
(methylation) → sometimes results in
toxication
• Converts ammonia to urea
Other functions
• Produces albumin, the major osmolar
component of blood serum
• Synthesizes angiotensinogen, the hormone
responsible for raising blood pressure when
activated by renin (enzyme released when the
kidney senses low blood pressure)
References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0AjkKRxb
WM&feature=related
• http://www.mamashealth.com/organs/liver.as
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• www.medterms.com
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx6kj6xLC
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