Liver Anatomy and Function Overview

The liver is the largest ______ in the body weighing about 1.4 kg in an average adult.

An important function of the liver is to conjugate lipid soluble molecules with SO3 or glucuronide which renders them water soluble for release into the ______ and ultimate elimination through the alimentary canal.

Blood from the portal vein, which drains the entire gastrointestinal tract and spleen, passes through the substance of the liver before entering the systemic ______.

Blood from the spleen carries the breakdown products of hemoglobin to the ______.

Tributaries of the portal vein empty into hepatic sinusoids that drain into hepatic ______.

The arrangement in the liver of a set of sinusoids between veins is called the hepatic portal ______.

The liver is invested by a delicate connective tissue capsule that is continuous with the peritoneum and is called _______ capsule.

The surfaces of an individual hepatocyte either contact an adjacent liver cell or border on a _______ space.

The spoke-like arrangement of hepatic plates about a central vein constitutes the basis of the classic hepatic _______.

A portal triad contains a branch of the portal vein, a branch of the hepatic artery and an interlobular _______.

Bile produced by the hepatocytes is poured into bile canaliculi which are spaces between the plasma membrane of the adjacent cells.At the periphery of the lobule they become continuous with intralobular _______.

Also present in the sinusoidal lining are actively phagocytic cells, variously called hepatic macrophages or _______ cells.