15.
feature
Did you know?
58 facts about the liver
1. The liver is the body’s “protector.”
16.
2.
17.
3.
4.
18.
5.
On average, it weighs
about 1.6 kilograms.
The liver is the largest solid
organ in the body.
It is also the largest gland in
the body.
While the liver is the largest gland in the body, it is
actually made of two different types of gland - a
secretory gland and an endocrine gland. The secretory
gland produces and secretes bile into the bile ducts.
The endocrine gland produces and secretes chemicals
into the blood for use in other organs.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
The liver performs over 500 different chemical
functions, and affects nearly every physiological
process of the body.
Two large blood vessels carry blood to the liver - the
hepatic artery and the portal vein. The hepatic artery
brings oxygen-rich blood straight from the heart. The
portal vein brings nutrient-rich blood from the intestines.
19.
20.
The hepatic portal vein supplies approximately 75
per cent of the liver’s blood supply.
As the blood vessels come into the liver, they branch
out and get smaller until they end in incredibly tiny
capillaries. Each capillary leads to a lobule and each
lobule is made up of hepatic cells. These are the basic
cells of the liver.
Every minute, the liver filters
over a litre of blood.
Medical words that relate to the liver often contain hepatic
or hepato-. This comes from the Greek word for liver.
The liver is about 20cm wide by 17cm long,
and 12 cm thick.
The liver consists of 96 per cent water.
Two main types of cells populate the liver lobes: karat
parenchymal (commonly referred to as hepatocytes)
and non-parenchymal cells. Eighty per cent of the
liver volume is made up of hepatocytes.
page 12
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
For the Greeks, the liver
was considered
the seat of
the emotions.
They practised
something
c a l l e d
‘hepatoscopy’
which involved sacrificing oxen or goats
and examining their livers to determine
whether their military campaigns would
succeed or fail.
The liver is positioned in the right upper quadrant of
the abdominal cavity, underneath the diaphragm,
and behind the ribs. It lies to the right of the stomach
and overlies the gallbladder.
If you place your hand over the lower right-hand
side of your ribs and it will just about cover the
area of your liver.
Fried and processed foods can damage the liver.
Hydrogenated fats, and the chemicals found in
processed foods, cause the liver to work harder to
break them down. Overeating is a common cause of
liver malfunction because it creates excessive work
for the liver, and an overworked liver can’t properly
detoxify harmful substances.
Insecticides put on trees and
shrubs not only kill bugs, they
can also get through the skin and
destroy the cells of the liver too.
The body needs protein, but if
too much protein is consumed,
it will build up in your liver and
interfere with your brain function.
To determine how many grams
of protein you should eat daily
divide your weight (in pounds) by two. For example at
170 pounds you should only consume 85g of protein.
Try to get your protein from vegetables, nuts, and
dairy products rather than meat.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
Each zone in the liver is susceptible to its own illnesses.
The liver can re-build itself. Even if only 25 per cent of
it is still healthy, the liver can regenerate itself into a
full liver again. However, if the liver becomes severely
damaged, there comes a point at which it is no longer
able to repair itself.
The structure of the human liver is traditionally divided
into four lobes: the right (largest), left, quadrate, and
caudate lobes.
At any given time it holds about half a litre of
blood, which is over a tenth of the body’s total
blood supply.
We cannot live without our liver.
There are separate reservoirs of blood in the liver,
called venous sinuses, which can hold up to 3.5
litres for boosting blood volume in emergencies.
The liver is the only organ that can regenerate
itself, thus making it possible for one person to
donate part of their liver to another person. When a
portion of the liver is transplanted, the donor’s liver
will regenerate back to its original size, while the
transplanted portion will grow to the appropriate
size for the recipient.
36.
37.
38.
40.
In the first trimester foetus, the liver is the main
site of red blood cell production. By the 32nd
week of gestation, the bone marrow has almost
completely taken over that task.
#41 - of
58 the liver
Some Functions
#41 - 58
The liver aids digestion by helping absorption of fat and
vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E, and K.
•
It helps distribute nutrients found in food around the
body.
•
It helps clean blood by removing medications and toxins.
•
It produces important proteins that affect the blood, such
as albumin and clotting factors.
•
The liver produces bile and excretes it.
•
It metabolises fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
•
The liver activates enzymes.
•
The liver stores energy like a battery, by stock-piling
glycogen (sugar), carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and
minerals, until it is needed.
•
It detoxifies and purifies the blood.
In contrast, in Plato, and in later physiology, the
liver was thought to be the seat of the darkest
emotions, including wrath, jealousy, and greed,
which drive men to action. The Talmud referred to
the liver as the seat of anger, with the gallbladder
counteracting it.
•
The liver stores iron reserves.
•
The liver stores all the toxins the body cannot break down.
•
It is a key organ involved in our natural immunity,
releasing important chemicals that activate immune
responses when infection is detected.
However, the Persian, Urdu, and Hindi languages
refer to the liver in figurative speech to indicate
courage and strong feelings, or “their best”. For
example; “This Mecca has thrown to you pieces of
its liver.” A term ‘jan e jigar’ is a term of endearment
in Urdu, which means “the strength (power) of my
liver.” In Persian slang, jigar is used as an adjective
for any object which is desirable, especially women.
•
The liver plays an important role in filtering out bugs that
enter the bloodstream from the stomach. It contains cells
known as macrophages, which form part of the body’s
defence mechanism. The macrophages in the liver destroy
bacteria or bacterial toxins coming from the stomach.
•
When the liver filters out toxins and chemicals, it turns
them into by-products or waste products by liquefying
them. Those toxins are then excreted out of the body
through urine.
•
About 80 per cent of the cholesterol in your body is made
in the liver from other fats you eat. Cholesterol is a fat the
body requires for normal growth and health. However,
too much cholesterol is unhealthy.
•
The liver breaks down the ingredients in medicines. For
example, painkillers are broken down in the liver so the
body can use them quickly to reduce pain.
•
It produces and maintains the balance of hormones.
•
The liver produces an insulin-like growth factor, a
polypeptide protein hormone, which plays an important
role in childhood growth, and continues to have anabolic
effects in adults.
Scientific and medical works about liver
regeneration often refer to the Greek Titan
Prometheus. He was chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where, each day, his liver was
devoured by an eagle, only to grow back
each night. Some think the myth indicates
the ancient Greeks knew about the liver’s
remarkable capacity for self-repair, though this
claim has been challenged.
32.
The Greeks viewed the liver as the organ in closest
33. contact with divinity.
34.
35.
39..
In the growing foetus, a major
source of blood to the liver is the
umbilical vein, which supplies
nutrients to the growing foetus.
•
A person has a fatty liver if the liver contains more
than 10 per cent fat.
Liver cells regenerate quickly, if cells are
lost they are replaced within a few hours.
The liver is broken into three zones, each with a
specific function. The blood enters the first zone,
travels to the second and third zone, then leaves the
liver.
The liver is the largest internal, and most
metabolically complex, organ in humans.
In Zulu language, the word for liver is the same as
the word for courage.
Many ancient people of Near East and
Mediterranean areas practiced a type of divination
called haruspicy, where they tried to obtain
information by examining the livers of sheep and
other animals.
Crow Indians believed the liver to be vital
if one was to go on to the afterlife. Legend
has it that Liver-Eating Johnson sought
revenge on the Crow tribe for killing
his wife. He would allegedly cut out
and eat the liver of each man killed
to insult the Crow people.
page 13