The mammalian liver: structure 5.2.2 Flashcards
What is the liver involved with?
The breakdown of toxic substances and the production of excretory waste
What is required for the livers function
A good blood supply
What is carried in the hepatic artery
Oxygenated blood from the heart is carried to the liver - this provides oxygen for aerobic respiration and fuels the metabolic rate of liver cells
What is carried in the hepatic portal vein
The liver receives blood from the digestive system which allows it to absorb and metabolise nutrients that are absorbed into the blood from the small intestine
What is carried in the hepatic vein
Deoxygenated blood exits the liver and flows back to the heart
What is the liver connected directly to?
The gallbladder
What is the role of the gallbladder?
- Stores bile
- Release bile into the duodenum via the bile duct
What are liver cells known as?
Hepatocytes
What are liver cells arranged into?
Liver lobules
What is each liver lobule supplied with?
Blood by branches of the hepatic artery and the hepatic portal vein
Where does the blood from the hepatic artery and portal vein mix?
Sinusoids
What are sinusoids?
Where the blood from the hepatic artery and portal vein mixes within each liver lobule. Here the blood also exchanges nutrients with nearby hepatocytes
What is each lobule also connected to?
A branch of the hepatic vein that drains blood away from the lobule and into the main hepatic vein
What does the central vein do
Blood flows from here into the hepatic vein
