3A Anatomy of the Liver

Question 1

The liver consists of which four lobes?

Answer 1

Right, left, quadrate, and caudate lobes

Question 2

The lobes are composed of what functional units?

Answer 2

Lobules

Question 3

Which lobe is the largest?

Answer 3

Right lobe

Question 4

T/F The liver is encased in the ribcage?

Answer 4

T

Question 5

What divides the right and left lobes?

Answer 5

The falciform ligament

Question 6

Where is the caudate lobe positioned on the liver?

Answer 6

Posterior-superior (not inferior as the word caudate would imply “tail”)

Question 7

Where is the quadrate lobe in relation to the caudate lobe?

Answer 7

Inferior of the caudate lobe

Question 8

Do the different lobes have different functions?

Answer 8

No, they all have the same function

Question 9

What shape do lobules look like?

Answer 9

Hexagon

Question 10

What do lobules consist of?

Answer 10

Rows upon rows of hepatocytes.

Question 11

How does blood flow past hepatocytes?

Answer 11

Via sinusoids from branches of the hepatic portal vein to the central vein of each lobule

Question 12

What is at the center of the lobule hexagon?

Answer 12

Central vein

Question 13

What separates the lobules?

Answer 13

CT

Question 14

Which lobules have thicker CT, human or pig?

Answer 14

Pig

Question 15

What makes up the poral triads (tetrads really) at the corners of the lobule hexagon?

Answer 15

Portal vein branch, hepatic artery branch, bile duct, and lymphatic vessel

Question 16

The portal system carries blood from where?

Answer 16

Intestines

Question 17

T/F The venous and arterial blood flow in the same direction past the hapatocytes and mix

Answer 17

T

Question 18

What does the venous blood carried in the portal vein have a lot of?

Answer 18

Nutrients! The liver is the first to see blood that has absorbed nutrients from the intestine

Question 19

What do Kupffer cells do?

Answer 19

They are hepatic macrophages so they remove debris such a bacteria and worn out blood cells

Question 20

What are the tiny ducts that run parallel to the sinusoids?

Answer 20

Bile canaliculi and drain bile produced by the hepatocytes

Question 21

What are hepatic cords?

Answer 21

Hepatocytes arranged into cords separated by adjacent sinusoids

Question 22

T/F The liver has two blood supplies

Answer 22

T - oxygenated blood from hepatic artery and deoxygenated by nutriet-rich blood from the hepatic vein

Question 23

Where do the two blood supplies mix in the liver?

Answer 23

Liver sinusoids

Question 24

What is the sequence of blood thru the liver and out?

Answer 24

Liver sinusoids, central vein, hepatic vein, inferior vena cava,right atrium of heart

Question 25

What are sinusoids lined with?

Answer 25

Fenestrated endothelium

Question 26

Does the sinusoid endothelium have an underlying basement membrane?

Answer 26

No, therefore the fenestrations permit blood plasma to wash freely over the exposed surfaces of the hepatocytes

Question 27

What is the space of disse?

Answer 27

Perisinusoidal space where blood washes freely coming the fenestrations in the sinusoid epithelium

Question 28

T/F Liver capillaries are very leaky

Answer 28

T

Question 29

Why are liver capillaries very leaky?

Answer 29

So you can supply lots of oxygen and lots of nutrients

Question 30

Why does the liver have a lot of lymphatics?

Answer 30

Do drain away the interstitial fluid created the very leaky sinusoidal epithelium

Question 31

What organ has the highest supply of lymphatic vessels than any other organ in the body?

Answer 31

Liver

Question 32

What is the interstitial space in the liver called?

Answer 32

Space of disse

Question 33

Sinusoidal blood flow is always in what direction?

Answer 33

Towards the central vein

Question 34

What happens if excessive amounts of fluid being to transude into the lymph and leak thru the outer surface of the liver capsule directly in to the abdominal cavity?

Answer 34

Ascites

Question 35

T/F Healthy men have little or no interperitoneal fluid, but women may normally have as much as 20 mL depending on the phase of the menstrual cycle

Answer 35

T

Question 36

Whys is the liver a prime site for the spread of cancerous cells from elsewhere in the body?

Answer 36

B/c of its portal blood supply and extensive lymphatic circulation

Question 37

Metastasis of cancer to the liver is especially likely from what three areas?

Answer 37

GI tract, breast, and lung

Question 38

What is the first pass effect?

Answer 38

Most drugs absorbed from the GI tract enter the portal circulation and encounter the liver before being distributed into general circulation

Question 39

What if a drug has 100% first pass effect?

Answer 39

It will be completely filtered out and not get into the arterial blood (you'd have to give it subcutaneously or intramuscular)

Question 40

What is the sequence of the bile flow from the liver?

Answer 40

R/L hepatic ducts, common hepatic duct, common bile duct