It also breaks down metabolizes medicines in the blood into forms that are easier for the body to use. The liver does many important things including:.
Makes bile, which helps carry away waste and break down fats in the small intestine during digestion. Changes harmful ammonia to urea urea is one of the end products of protein metabolism that is excreted in the urine.
When the liver has broken down harmful substances, they are excreted into the bile or blood. The inferior vena cava is a large main vein that carries blood through the liver and back to the heart.
Below the right lobe of the liver lies the gallbladder — a hollow, pear-shaped, saclike organ. The gallbladder stores bile, a greenish brown fluid produced by the liver to help the body break down and use fats.
When a person eats, the gallbladder empties bile into the intestines to help digest food. Your health information, right at your fingertips. Read the Latest. Anatomy of the Liver The liver is the largest and perhaps the most complex organ in the body. All the blood leaving the stomach and intestines passes through the liver.
The liver processes this blood and breaks down, balances, and creates the nutrients and also metabolizes drugs into forms that are easier to use for the rest of the body or that are nontoxic. More than vital functions have been identified with the liver. Some of the more well-known functions include the following:. Production of bile, which helps carry away waste and break down fats in the small intestine during digestion.
Conversion of excess glucose into glycogen for storage glycogen can later be converted back to glucose for energy and to balance and make glucose as needed. Processes Glucose : The liver removes excess glucose sugar from the bloodstream and stores it as glycogen.
As needed, it can convert glycogen back into glucose. Anatomy of the Liver The liver is reddish-brown and shaped approximately like a cone or a wedge, with the small end above the spleen and stomach and the large end above the small intestine.
Structure The liver consists of four lobes: the larger right lobe and left lobe, and the smaller caudate lobe and quadrate lobe. Parts The following are some of the most important individual parts of the liver: Common Hepatic Duct : A tube that carries bile out of the liver.
It is formed from the intersection of the right and left hepatic ducts. Falciform Ligament : A thin, fibrous ligament that separates the two lobes of the liver and connects it to the abdominal wall. Hepatic Artery : The main blood vessel that supplies the liver with oxygenated blood. Hepatic Portal Vein : The blood vessel that carries blood from the gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen to the liver. Lobes : The anatomical sections of the liver. Lobules : Microscopic building blocks of the liver.
Peritoneum : A membrane covering the liver that forms the exterior.
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