Glucose stored in the liver is called glycogen. Glycogen is like your backup fuel. When the body needs a quick energy boost or when a person's blood glucose level drops the liver breaks down glycogen and releases glucose into the bloodstream. Your liver doesn't stop there. It has a hand in making cholesterol, which you might think of as bad, but your body needs some of it. And the liver helps with blood clotting, which is what helps you stop bleeding not long after you get a cut.
You should thank your liver next time you take some medicine, too. For example, when you take a pain reliever for a headache, the liver takes the active ingredient and breaks it down so your body can use it to make your headache go away! Now that you know how much your liver does for you, you're probably wondering what you can do for it. It's easy, really. Living healthy is the best way to care for your liver. The liver can be damaged if a person is very overweight or drinks too much alcohol.
Your liver continually produces bile. This is a chemical that helps turn fats into energy that your body uses. Bile is necessary for the digestive process. Your liver also creates albumin. This is a blood protein that helps carry hormones, drugs, and fatty acids throughout your body.
Your liver also creates most of the substances that help your blood clot after injury. Processing bilirubin. The liver helps your body get rid of bilirubin. This happens from the breakdown of your red blood cells. Too much bilirubin in your body can cause jaundice. This is a yellowing of the skin and eyes. Removing waste products.
Clearance of bilirubin. An accumulation of bilirubin will turn the skin and eyes yellow. When the liver has broken down harmful substances, their by-products are excreted into the bile or blood. Bile by-products enter the intestine. They leave the body in stool. Blood by-products are filtered out by the kidneys and leave the body as urine. Search Encyclopedia.
How the Liver Works Anatomy of the liver The liver is located in the upper right-hand part of the abdominal cavity. There are 2 distinct sources that supply blood to the liver: Oxygenated blood flows into the liver through the hepatic artery. Functions of the liver The liver regulates most chemical levels in the blood and excretes a product called bile.
The hepatic duct transports bile produced by the liver cells to the gallbladder and duodenum the first part of the small intestine. The gallbladder, a separate organ that works closely with the liver, is attached to the bile duct.
Although it is a small organ, the gallbladder is distensible, which means it is able to stretch out or distend if necessary. The gallbladder stores bile and releases it back into the duct on cues from the stomach. Did you know that at any given moment, the liver holds about 13 percent of the body's blood supply? Your liver gets blood from two distinct sources: the hepatic artery and the portal vein. Oxygen-rich blood flows in through the hepatic artery, while nutrients from the intestines come through the portal vein.
Remember the sinusoids? This is where they get all that oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood. Blood leaves your liver via a central vein in each lobule, then through a hepatic vein, one of several short veins originating within the lobes of the liver as small branches.
These unite in a network of hepatic veins that lead directly to the inferior vena cava. This major vein collects blood from parts of the body below your diaphragm, and passes that blood on for your heart to use.
As you've seen, all of the blood leaving the stomach and intestines passes through the liver. Your liver is a very important "weigh station" in the blood's journey throughout your body. But why exactly does your liver need the oxygen and nutrients supplied by your blood?
What does it do? Some people think of the liver as the body's chemical plant and inspection station. Your liver processes blood, breaking down the nutrients and chemicals your blood carries.
It changes these into forms that are easier for the rest of your body to use, and also regulates the levels of most chemical in your blood. The inspection part comes in handy because helpful nutrients are not the only things your blood carries. There are also some waste products, which your liver filters out. If you've ever seen the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, think of the scale for those golden eggs.
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