Module 6: Accessory Digestive Glands: Liver

Question 1

Functions of liver (8)

Answer 1

• detoxify products of metabolic waste
• breakdown of old RBC and recycle their components
• production and secretion of bile (later stored in gallbladder)
• production and secretion of plasma proteins (clotting factors and albumin)
• production of plasma lipoproteins, cholesterol, phospholipids
• synthesis and storage of glycogen
• detoxify toxins and drugs (and alcohol)
• stores vitamins and iron

Question 2

Glisson’s capsule

Answer 2

capsule of liver

composed of dense fibrous connective tissue and covered by mesoepithelial cells from peritoneum

Question 3

Dual blood supply to liver

Answer 3

75% by Hepatic portal vein (contains nutrients and products of digestion)
25% by hepatic artery (provides O2 for metabolic activity of liver)

Question 4

Hepatocytes

Answer 4

cells of the liver
storage of glycogen
Production of lipids
Detoxification processes
Some have microvilli

Question 5

Bile canaliculi

Answer 5

tiny channels in between hepatocytes

Merge to form Canals of Hering which drain into bile ductules

Question 6

Hepatocytes secrete glucose, plasma proteins and lipoproteins into bloodstream via

Answer 6

sinusoids

Question 7

Hepatocytes are arranged into hexagonal units called

Answer 7

lobules
Surrounded by portal tracts
Central vein (centrilobular venule/hepatic venule) that drains into hepatic vein)

Question 8

portal tracts

Answer 8

defines angles of lobule margin

Each tract contains: terminal branch of hepatic artery, hepatic portal vein, bile collecting duct and lymphatic vessel

Question 9

Terminal portal venule is the ________vessel

Answer 9

largest

Typically thin walled and irregular outline

Question 10

Hepatic arteriole

Answer 10

small in diameter
thick walled (usual structure of arteriole)
Supply o2 to liver

Question 11

Bile collecting duct

Answer 11

variable size
Lined by simple cuboidal epithelium
They will all eventually drain into common bile duct

Question 12

Lymphatic vessel

Answer 12

very delicate, usually collapses during tissue processing

Question 13

Cells of liver

Answer 13

hepatocytes
Kupffer cells
Sinusoid-lining cells
Stellate cells

Question 14

Kupffer cells

Answer 14

within sinusoids
part of macrophage/monocyte system
capable of engulfing bacteria that invade the liver

Question 15

Sinusoid-lining cells

Answer 15

make up majority of endothelial lining

Flattened, condensed nuclei

Question 16

Stellate cells

Answer 16

not easily seen

Vit A storage and production of extracellular matrix and collagen