The largest organ in the body, the Liver is found below the diaphragm in the right upper quadrant of the abdominal cavity. It is split into the left and the right lobe separated by the falciform ligament. The hepatocytes, cells of the liver have a unique potential to reproduce in response to any liver injury.
Functions:
This metabolically active organ carries out some vital functions, some of its primary functions are as follows:
- Carries out metabolism of proteins, fats and carbohydrates
- It produces and excretes bile
- It is responsible to excrete cholesterol, bilirubin, drugs and hormones
- Responsible to activate enzymes
- It stores vitamins, minerals and glycogen
- It is responsible to synthesize plasma proteins namely albumin and clotting factors
- It detoxifies the blood and purifies it
