Histology of the liver Flashcards
What is unique about the livers blood supply?
Has a dual blood supply
Supplied by the hepatic artery and the hepatic portal vein, therefore receives a mix or oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.
Where is the liver located?
In the upper right quadrant just below the diaphragm.
What is the largest internal organ?
The liver.
What is the exocrine function of the liver?
Secretes bile into the doudenum to help digest fat and eliminate waste prodcuts such as bilirubin and cholesterol
What are the endocrine functions of the liver?
Synthesise the majority of plama proteins such as albumin, fibrinogen, lipoporteins and prothrombin.
What are the metabolism and detoxificatoin functions of the liver?
Breakdwon of proteins and toxic substances and many drugs.
Will oxidse and conjugate toxine.
Eliminate via bile or urine
What is the storage role of the liver?
Blood
Glycogen
Tricyclerdie
Vitamin A
Iron
What makes up the portal triad?
The hepatic artery
The portal vein
The bile duct
What is the central structure is a classic hepatic lobe?
The central vein
Describe the structure of a classic liver lobule.
Hexagonal in shape
Contain a portal triad at each corner
Main content is hepatocytes
Sinusoids made from the hepatic artery and portal vein drain towards the central vein
The bile duct drain out of the lobule towards the common hepatic duct
What is a kupffer cell and where are they located?
Found on the walls of sinusoids in the hepatic lobules
Act as macrophages, will phagocytse pathogen absorbed from the gut, are an innate immune defence
What is a sinusoid in a hepatic lobule and how does this relate to the blood flow?
Sinusoid is made from the combination of the hepatic artery and the portal vein
This is a mixture of oxygenated and dexocygenated blood
Travels towards the centre of the hepatocyte to drain into the central vein.
What is the heirachy of structures that blood flows through in a hepatic lobule?
Portal triad
Sinusoidal channel
Central vein
The drainage from how many portal traids will drain into one central vein in a hepatocyte lobule?
Six
What are bile canaliculi in the liver?
Enlarged intracellular spaces between two adjacent hepatocytes
Hold scretions from the hepatocytes that contribute to bile, will eventually drain into the bile duct in the portal triad.
What is the space of disse in the liver?
THe space between the endothelial cells of the sinusoids
and the hepatocytes
Carriers oxygen rich and glucose rich blood from the sinusoids to the hepatocytes.
What are ito cells in the liver?
Found in the space of disse
Are support cells for hepatocytes
Will store vitamin A
What are the key identifying features of hepatocytes in histological images?
Eosinophilic cytoplasm and a basophilic nucleus
Circular nucleus - may be binucleate
Are large and polyhedral but have some variation in size
Form the cords/plates within the liver
How are sinusoids identifiable on histological sections of the liver?
Are white spaces between rows of hepatocytes, vary is size and shape.
The liver stores significant quantities of….
Glycogen
What structures does bile flow through in the liver?
Bile canaliculi
Bile canals of Hering
Bile ductules
Bile duct (portal triad)
What cells are associated with bile ducts?
Choloanglocytes - line the bile duct walls
Are simple cuboidal in shape
Modify bile as it passess down the billary tree
How are kupffer cells identifible on histological section of a hepatic lobule?
Are in the sinusoidal lining
Star shaped
What additional structures may be found in the portal traid but are not normally included?
Lymphatics
What are the tips for distinguishing between different structures in the portal triad?
Portal vein - tends to have the largest lumen
Hepatic artery - smaller, sqaoumous cells surrounded by a muscular ridge, may see rbcs in lumen, flat nucleu
Bile duct - similar size to artery but contains cuboidal cells to more prominent and a higher density of nucleuses. Round nucleus
What are the three different theoretical models to describe the structure of the liver?
Classic lobule
Portal lobule
Liver acinus
What is the shape of the classic lobule and how is it organised?
Is hexagonal in shape
Has a central vein
Drains the contents from six portal triads.
What are the features of a portal lobule?
Is triangular is shape
Central portal traid
Corners are made from three central veins, denotes the areas that fluid from the portal triad may drain into/out of.