Structure And Function Of The Liver Flashcards
What are the names of the blood vessels which supply the liver?
Hepatic artery (30-40% blood supply) Portal vein (60-70% blood supply)
What vessels are in the portal triad?
Portal vein, bile ducts and hepatic artery.
What is the name of the vein leaving the liver?
The hepatic vein
Which quadrant is the liver located?
Right upper quadrant
What are the three types of surface found on hepatocytes?
Sinusoidal, intercellular and canalicular
Describes the endothelium of the sinusoids in the liver?
It is fenestrated and lacks a complete basement membrane
Name all the types of liver cells.
Hepatocytes Endothelial cells Kupffer cells (macrophages) Perisinusoidal (fat-storing) cells Liver-associated lymphocytes
What is the threefold definition of cirrhosis?
Diffuse process with fibrosis and nodule formation
What is cirrhosis?
End stage liver disease
- result of chronic inflammation over many years
Roughly, how can cirrhosis occur?
Persistence of injury-causing agent
Fibrous scarring and hepatocyte regeneration
Eventually irreversible and cirrhosis develops
Briefly describe the pathogenesis of cirrhosis.
Firstly, hepatocyte injury leads to progressive liver cell loss.
This then causes chronic inflammation (leading to fibrosis) and hepatocyte regeneration (leading to hyper plastic nodules).
Both of these things causes architectural abnormalities, which leads to cirrhosis and ischaemia (ischaemia causes more progressive liver cell loss and the problem, worsens)
Name some of the causes of cirrhosis (acquired and inherited)
Alcohol or alcohol-like
Biliary disease
Unknown
Heamochromatosis
Name some of the complications of cirrhosis.
Portal hypertension
Liver failure
Hepatocellular (liver) cancer
What are the common complication of portal hypertension?
Portal systemic shunts and varies
Ascites
Splenomeagly
Name some of the proteins produced by the liver
Albumin Transport proteins Coagulation and fibrinolysis proteins (e.g factors II, V, VII-XIII) Complement Protease inhibitors
