Liver Function (Bishop 7th ed. | ADV | P) Flashcards
What are the characteristics of liver?
1) It is a very large and complex organ responsible for performing vital tasks that impact all body systems
2) Large and complex organ
3) Weighing approx 1.2 - 1.5 kg (in healthy adult)
4) Located beneath and attached to the diaphragm
5) Protected by lower rib cage
6) Divided unequally in 2 lobes (right and left lobe)
7) An extremely vascular organ
8) It serves as a gatekeeper bet substances absorbed by GIT and those released into systemic circulation
What are the functions of the liver?
1) It is the major player in maintaining stable glucose concentrations due to its ability to store glucose as glycogen and degrade glycogen depending on the body’s needs
2) It plays an essential role in the development of hgb in infants
3) It is also responsible for synthesizing the (+) and (-) acute-phase reactants and coagulation proteins
4) It also serves to store a pool of AAs through protein degradation
What are the complex functions of liver?
1) Metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and bili
2) Detoxification of harmful substances
3) Storage for essential compounds
4) Excretion of substances
How is liver unique from other organs?
Liver is unique from other organs because it is a relatively resilient organ that can regenerate cells that have been destroyed by some short-term injury or disease or have been removed
What will happen if the liver is permanently damaged for a long period of time?
It may undergo irreversible changes that permanently interfere w/ its essential functions
What will happen if the liver becomes completely nonfunctional for any reason?
The individual will die within 24 hrs
Why will the individual (having a completely nonfunctional liver) will die?
Due to hypoglycemia
What is the purpose of ligamentous attachments?
They hold the liver in place
What is the difference bet right lobe and left lobe (in terms of size)?
Right lobe is approx 6 times larger than the left lobe
How many are the sources of blood supply of the liver?
2
What are the 2 sources of blood that supplies the liver?
1) Hepatic artery
2) Portal vein
What is hepatic artery and what are its purposes?
It is a branch of the aorta
1) It supplies oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the liver
2) It is responsible for providing approx 25% of total blood supply to the liver
What are the purposes of portal vein?
1) It supplies nutrient-rich blood (collected as food is digested) from the digestive tract
2) It is responsible for providing approx 75% of the total blood supply to the liver
The 2 blood supplies eventually merge into the what?
Hepatic sinusoid
What is the characteristic of hepatic sinusoid?
It is lined w/ hepatocytes
What is the purpose of hepatocytes?
They are capable of removing potentially toxic substances from the blood
What happens to the blood from the sinusoid?
The blood flows to the central canal (central vein) of each lobule
How do the blood leave the liver?
Through the central canal
What is the volume of blood that passes through the liver per min?
Approx 1,500 mL
The excretory system of the liver begins w/ what?
It begins at the bile canaliculi
What is bile canaliculi?
These are small spaces bet the hepatocytes
What is the action of bile canaliculi?
They form intrahepatic ducts
What is the purpose of intrahepatic ducts?
These is where the excretory products of the cell can drain
What are the actions of intrahepatic ducts?
They join to form the right and left hepatic ducts, w/c drain the secretions from the liver
What is the action of right and left hepatic ducts?
They merge to form the common hepatic duct
What is the action of common hepatic duct?
It eventually joins w/ the cystic duct of the gallbladder to form the common bile duct
The combined digestive secretions are then expelled into the what?
Into the duodenum
The liver is divided into microscopic units called what?
Lobules
What are lobules?
They are the functional units of the liver
What is the function of lobules?
They are responsible for all metabolic and excretory functions performed by the liver
What are the characteristics of lobules?
1) Each lobule is roughly six-sided structure
2) Has a centrally located vein
3) Has portal triads at each of the corners
What is the term used to denote the centrally located vein present in the lobules?
Central vein
What are the components of each portal triad?
1) A hepatic artery
2) A portal vein
3) A bile duct (surrounded by connective tissue)
What are the 2 major cell types of the liver?
1) Hepatocytes
2) Kupffer cells
What is the % distribution of hepatocytes in the liver?
Approx 80% of the volume of the liver
What is the characteristic of hepatocytes?
They are large cells that radiate outward from the central vein in plates to the periphery of the lobule
What are the purposes of hepatocytes?
1) They perform the major functions associated w/ the liver
2) They are responsible for the regenerative properties of the liver
What are Kupffer cells?
They are macrophages that line the sinusoids of the liver
What is the function of Kupffer cells?
They act as active phagocytes w/c are capable of engulfing bacteria, debris, toxins, and other substances flowing through the sinusoids
What are the 4 major functions performed by the liver?
1) Excretion / secretion
2) Metabolism
3) Detoxification
4) Storage
What does the liver excrete / secrete?
It excretes endogenous and exogenous substances into the bile or urine
Provide an ex of a substance that is excreted by the liver
Bilirubin
What are the characteristics of bili?
1) It is the major heme waste product
2) It is very sensitive to and is destroyed by light
What is the action that liver can only do?
It is the only organ that has the capability to excrete heme waste products
Bile is made up of what components?
1) Bile acids or salts
2) Bile pigments
3) Chole
4) Other substances extracted from the blood
What is the volume of bile that is produced by the body per day?
Approx 3 L of bile per day
What is the volume of bile that is excreted by the body per day?
1 L from the produced bile
What is the principal pigment in bile?
Bili
How is bili derived?
It is derived from the breakdown of RBCs1
What happens approx 126 days after the emergence from the reticuloendothelial tissue?
RBCs are phagocytized and hgb is released
Hgb is degraded into what components?
1) Heme
2) Globin
3) Iron
What happens to iron (as a result of hgb degradation)?
It is bound by transferrin and is returned to iron w/c is stored in the liver or bone marrow for reuse
What happens to globin (as a result of hgb degradation)?
It is then degraded to its constituent AAs w/c are reused by the body
What happens to heme (as a result of hgb degradation)?
It is converted to bili w/c is then bound by albumin then transported to the liver
What is the time duration for the conversion of heme to bili?
2 - 3 hrs
What is unconjugated or indirect bili?
This is the type of bili derived from the conversion from heme (as a result of hgb breakdown) w/c is then bound by albumin and is then transported to the liver
What are the characteristics of unconjugated bili?
1) Insoluble in water
2) Cannot be removed from the body until it has been conjugated by the liver
3) Nonpolar
4) Found in plasma that is bound to albumin
5) Will only react w/ diazo rgnt in the presence of an accelerator
What happens to the unconjugated bili present in the liver?
It flows into the sinusoidal spaces and is released from albumin so that it can be picked up by a carrier protein
What is the carrier protein that picks up the unconjugated bili (after being released from albumin)?
Ligandin
What is the characteristic of ligandin?
It is located in the hepatocyte
What is the purpose of ligandin?
It is responsible for transporting unconjugated bili to the ER
Where do rapid conjugation of unconjugated bili happen?
In the ER
What is the other term for conjugation?
Esterification
What is the enzyme that conjugates unconjugated bili?
Uridyldiphosphate glucuronyl transferase (UDPGT)
What is the principle of action by UDPGT (in terms of conjugation of unconjugated bili)?
It transfers a glucuronic acid molecule to each of the 2 propionic acid side chains of bili to form bilirubin diglucuronide
Bilirubin diglucuronide is also known as what?
Conjugated bili
What are the characteristics of conjugated bili?
1) Water soluble
2) Able to be secreted from the hepatocyte into the bile canaliculi
3) Polar
4) Found in the plasma in its free state (not bound to any protein)
5) Will react w/ diazo rgnt directly w/out the need of an accelerator
What is the action that happen once the conjugated bili is in the hepatic duct?
It combines w/ secretions from the gallbladder through the cystic duct and is expelled through the common bile duct to the intestines
What is the purpose of intestinal bacteria (especially bacteria in the lower portion of intestinal tract)?
They work on the conjugated bili to produce mesobilirubin, w/c is then reduced to mesobilirubinogen and then urobilinogen
Conjugated bili -> mesobilirubin -> mesobilirubinogen -> urobilinogen
What is the characteristic of urobilinogen?
It is a colorless product