Write a brief note on Liver

Liver is the largest gland of the body.

- It weights about 1.2 to 1.5 kg in an adult human.

- It is situated in the abdominal cavity, just below the diaphragm and has two

lobes.

- The hepatic lobules are the structural and functional units of liver containing

hepatic cells arranged in the form of cords.

- Each lobule is covered by a thin connective tissue sheath called the Glisson’s

capsule.

- The bile secreted by the hepatic cells passes through the hepatic ducts and is

stored and concentrated in a thin muscular sac called the gall bladder.

- The duct of gall bladder (cystic duct) along with the hepatic duct from the liver

forms the common bile duct.

- The bile duct and the pancreatic duct open together into the duodenum

as the common hepato-pancreatic duct which is guarded by a sphincter called the

sphincter of Oddi.