How Does The Human Liver Work

The liver plays a major role in metabolism and has a number of functions in the body including storage of glycogen (the storage form of glucose), plasma protein synthesis, and drug detoxification. It also produces bile, which is important in digestion. It performs and regulates a wide variety of high-volume biochemical reactions requiring specialized tissues.

The liver is located immediately under the diaphragm on the right side of the upper abdomen. It lies on the right of the stomach and makes a kind of bed for the gallbladder (which stores the bile). The liver is among the few internal human organs capable of natural regeneration of lost tissue. As little as 25% of remaining liver can regenerate into a whole liver again.

What does the liver look like?

The adult human liver normally weighs between 1.3 to 3.0 kilograms. It is a soft, pinkish-brown, boomerang-shaped organ that is the second largest organ in the body (the largest being the skin). The liver is also the largest gland within the human body.

Apart from a patch where it connects to the diaphragm, the liver is covered entirely by visceral peritoneum, a thin, double-layered membrane that reduces friction against other organs.

The liver is divided into four lobes based on surface features: the left anatomical lobe, the right anatomical lobe, both can be found on the front side; the caudate lobe, and the quadrate lobe, both of which can be seen from behind the liver.

What does the liver do?

The liver has various functions that are carried out be the liver cells or hepatocytes.

It produces and excretes bile, which is required for dissolving fats. The bile is a yellow-green liquid that goes to the small intestines to help digest the food we eat.

The liver stores glucose when we eat and then puts the glucose into the blood when our blood glucose level goes down.

It takes protein and fat and turns it into glucose. This is important if we have no food to eat. We can use the fat that we have saved, and make it into glucose to use. Aside from which, the liver also makes some fats and cholesterol.

The liver metabolizes many things in the blood like hemoglobin (which transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body), proteins such as enzymes and insulin, ammonia, and toxins.

The liver stores vitamins and minerals we get from food, as well as producing several forms of proteins (particularly the one that makes your blood clot—called coagulation proteins; and albumin-like proteins).

Lastly, the liver produces red blood cells during the early stages of fetus development.

Currently, there is no artificial organ or device capable of emulating all the functions of the liver. Some functions can be emulated by liver dialysis, an experimental treatment for liver failure.