The Liver

The liver is the largest organ in the body. In the healthy adult, it weighs about three pounds. The liver is wedge shaped, with the top part wider than the bottom. It is located immediately below the diaphragm and occupies the entire upper right quadrant of the abdomen.

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Vital Functions

The liver performs over 500 vital functions. Damage to the liver can impair these and many other processes. Among them are the following:

Processing Healthful Nutrients. It processes all of the nutrients the body requires, including proteins, glucose, vitamins, and fats.

Bile Production. The liver produces bile, a green-colored fluid that is formed in the liver and helps the body absorb fats and fat-soluble vitamin. Bile is formed from bilirubin, a yellow-green pigment produced from the breakdown of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component in red blood cells. Bile contains bile salts, fatty acids, cholesterol and other substances. Bile travels from the liver to the gallbladder, where it is stored until after a meal. It is then secreted into the intestines where it helps digest fat.

Eliminating Toxins. One of the liver's major contributions to life is to render harmless potentially toxic substances, including alcohol, ammonia, nicotine, drugs, and harmful by-products of digestion.

Recycling Blood. The liver and spleen removes old red blood cells from the blood. The iron contained in them is recycled in the bone marrow to make new red blood cells.

The Liver's Architecture

The vital processes the liver performs rely on well-organized liver architecture.

The Building Blocks. The basic building blocks of the liver are the following structures:

• Bile ducts.
• Blood vessels.
• Working liver tissue (called the parenchyma).
• Supportive (connective) tissue.