Test Your Knowledge of the Liver and Gallbladder!

The liver lies just below the diaphragm in the right upper quadrant of the abdominal cavity and does a wide range of things, including helping to manage the body's metabolism, detoxification, and bile production.

The surface of the liver is covered by a serous membrane called the visceral peritoneum.

There are five peritoneal folds and these are referred to as ligaments.

There's the falciform ligament, which attaches the liver to the anterior wall of the abdominal cavity, the round ligament of the liver, the coronary ligament, the right triangular ligament, and the left triangular ligament.

From above, the liver is divided into two main lobes: the larger right lobe and the smaller left lobe.

From below, the liver has two additional lobes between the right and left lobe--the posterior caudate lobe and the anterior quadrate lobe.

The porta hepatis contains the hepatic artery, the hepatic portal vein, and the common hepatic duct.

The hepatic artery delivers oxygen-rich arterial blood from the heart to the liver, while the hepatic portal vein delivers nutrient-rich venous blood from the gastrointestinal tract, but also from the spleen, and pancreas.

The common hepatic duct drains bile from the liver into the gallbladder.

The hepatic lobules look like tiny hexagons and each hepatic lobule has a portal triad.

In addition to glycogen, hepatocytes also store certain vitamins like A, D, E, K, B12, and some minerals like iron and copper.

The liver also removes the amine group from amino acids, using a process called deamination, so that the amino acids metabolize to help produce ATP.

Hepatocytes also synthesize a variety of important proteins, like albumin and coagulation factors, which get secreted into the blood.

Lastly, these cells also regulate lipid metabolism.

The liver is a large organ located in the lower right side of the abdomen.

The liver is responsible for breaking down food into energy, synthesizing lipoproteins, and destroying harmful substances.

The liver also participates in the process of digestion by synthesizing bile.

The liver can regenerate lost parts, including its own liver.

The Kupffer cells in the liver are responsible for destroying old red and white blood cells, bacteria, and other foreign substances.

The gallbladder is a small organ located beneath the liver that stores and concentrates bile.