Function of Liver in Human Body: Liver Physiology, Larry Frolich, Yavapai College, March 10, 2006

Function of Liver in Human
Body
Liver Physiology, Larry Frolich, Yavapai College, March 10, 2006

Locate your liver
• Upper right quadrant

deep to inferior ribs
• Dome of liver abuts
against inferior
diaphragm surface
• Left/right lobes
• Gall bladder is thin
muscular sac on inferior
surface where bile
collects (1 above)
1. ANATOMY
Percuss your liver
• Easiest organ to
percuss
• Dense tissue gives
rock-solid sound/feel
on percussion
• Mid-clavicular line
moving inferiorly from
mid-chest to lower
right quadrant
Measuring liver span by percussion: variation in liver span

Variation in liver span according to the vertical plane of examination. Since there is
variability in where clinicians determine the mid-clavicular line to be, the inevitable
consequence is that liver span may also vary even if multiple observers are
perfectly accurate in measuring it.
What does the liver do?
Multi-function, blood-processing “factory”
• Temporary nutrient storage (glucose-
glycogen)
• Remove toxins from blood
• Remove old/damaged RBC’s
• Regulate nutrient or metabolite levels
in blood—keep constant supply of
sugars, fats, amino acids, nucleotides
(including cholesterol)
• Secrete bile via bile ducts and gall
bladder into small intestines.
2. PHYSIOLOGY
Dual blood supply to liver:
1. Hepatic portal system (review)
• Main drainage of
blood from gut—why
to liver?
• Why does liver need
another blood supply?
What does this blood
NOT have that liver
(and any organ)
needs?

Dual blood supply to liver
2. Hepatic artery (review)
• Primary branch from celiac
artery which is one of the three
main visceral branches of aorta
(review from circulation)
• Brings oxygen-rich blood
• Within liver lobules, blood
mixes:
– Nutrient-rich, toxin-laden,
oxygen-poor blood from gut via
hepatic portal vein
– Oxygen-rich blood from hepatic
portal artery
Where do the two blood supplies mix?
• Triads: Branches of three vessels: hepatic

portal vein, hepatic artery, along with bile
drainage ductiles all run together to infiltrate
all parts of liver.
• Sinusoids—special liver capillaries where
blood mixes and liver cells act…by-products
leave as bile in caniliculi which merge to form
bile ducts
3. HISTOLOGY
Hepatocytes at work
• Metabolic map of liver
• Hepatocytes are incredible chemical transformation
factories
• Just deep to epithelial lining of sinusoids
• Able to convert from one type of organic substrate (sugar,
protein, fat, nucleotide) to another
• Produce bile
Kuppfer cell
immune function
4. CELL BIOLOGY
What is bile?
• Bile composed of water, ions, bile
acids, organic molecules (including
cholesterol, phospholipids, bilirubin)
• Gallstones are mostly cholesterol
• Acids and salts emulsify fats for
absorption across wall of small
intestines into lacteal lymph capillaries
(review)
• Contains waste products from RBC
breakdown and other metabolic
processing (color of feces from
bilirubin in bile)(review)
• Ions buffer chyme from stomach
(review)
Bile processing and recycling
• Hepatocytes initially secrete
bile into canaliculi, carried to
gall bladder via hepatic ducts
• Gall bladder stores bile until
needed in gut when secreted
out cystic duct to common
bile duct to duodenum
• 95% of the bile produced by
the liver is “recycled”…often
2 or 3 times during the
digestion of a single meal
Cholesterol—one example of liver processing
• Our body needs cholesterol for

– Cell membranes
– Vitamin D
– Hormones—progesterone and testosterone
– Myelin (neuron axonal “wrapping”)
– Component of bile salts
• 85% of cholesterol in our blood is “endogenous”
or manufactured by our own cells (mostly liver)
• 15% comes from the food we eat
• So, is zero-cholesterol good…or even healthy?
Cholesterol in the liver:
Where’s it from? Where’s it go?
• Liver constantly manufactures cholesterol
using acetyl-CoA as substrate
• Some cholesterol to gut via bile for
emulsification of dietary fats
• Some cholesterol to blood for cell
membranes, myelin, hormones, vitamins
“Good” and “bad” cholesterol
• Two ways cholesterol is “packed”

– LDL—low density lipo-proteins (“bad”)
– HDL—high density lipo-proteins (“good”)
• LDL is component of arterial plaques that can lead to “blocked
arteries”
• HDL can help to clear LDL from arterial walls
• “Packing” of cholesterol and interactions with other dietary
and liver-produced fats maybe more important than
cholesterol levels alone
• Trans and saturated fats (especially artificially hydrogenated
fats) may be most culpable element of diet in raising LDL
levels
Cholesterol processing in liver and relation to
cardio-vascular disease and arterial plaques

Other liver cell functions
• Red blood cell decomposition and

recycling of components
• Toxin neutralization
• Conversion of “substrates:” altering amino
acids, amino acids to sugars, sugars to
amino acids, etc….to insure adequate
supply of necessary “molecules of life.”
Summary
• ANATOMY: Locate liver by percussing upper right
quadrant of abdomen
• PHYSIOLOGY: Liver is blood processing organ with dual
blood supply.
• HISTOLOGY: Blood mixes in sinusoids where hepatocytes
“do their magic”
• CELL BIOLOGY: Multiple functions for hepatocytes.
Manufacture cholesterol for use and recycling in digestion
(via bile) and delivery to cells of body via circulatory system
(via central vein of liver lobules).
– Cholesterol is necessary for many normal metabolic processes
– High levels of LDL cholesterol may contribute to plaque formation in
arteries
– HDL cholesterol may help to break down plaques

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Function of Liver in Human

Liver Physiology, Larry Frolich, Yavapai College, March 10, 2006

• Upper right quadrant

Measuring liver span by percussion: variation in liver span

Liver Physiology, Larry Frolich, Yavapai College, March 10, 2006

• Triads: Branches of three vessels: hepatic

• Our body needs cholesterol for

• Two ways cholesterol is “packed”

Liver Physiology, Larry Frolich, Yavapai College, March 10, 2006

• Red blood cell decomposition and

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