Liver (यकृत) in Human Body- Biology Topic

General Science – Biology topic – “Liver in Human body”, is important for all competitive exams like SSC CGL, SSC CHSL, RRB NTPC, UPSC and other state civil services exams. In these exams, almost 4-5 questions are coming from Biology. Let’s start the topic- Liver (यकृत) in Human body:

The liver (यकृत) and its functions:

The liver is the largest organ inside our body. It is an organ which detoxifies various metabolites, synthesizes proteins and produces biochemical necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it is located in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, below the diaphragm.

• It looks like a reddish brown wedge with 2 different parts, or lobes, of different sizes. The right lobe is a lot bigger than the left lobe.
• It weighs about 1.4 kg when you are fully grown.
• It lies on the right hand side of your abdominal cavity underneath the diaphragm and behind the ribs.
• the liver is covered by a thin, double-layered membrane, the Peritoneum, that helps to reduce friction against other organs
• Two large blood vessels called the hepatic artery and the portal vein carry blood to the liver.
  • The hepatic artery brings oxygen-rich blood straight from the heart through the aorta.
  • The portal vein also brings blood but this is carrying digested food from the small intestine.

• As these blood vessels come into the liver they branch out and get smaller until they end in incredibly tiny capillaries. Each capillary leads to a lobule and each lobule is made up of hepatic cells. These are the basic cells of the liver and they do the most amazing things for your body.

 

 

 

 

Working of Liver:

This organ is so important that we cannot live without it. The liver is an accessory digestive organ that produces “Bile” (A fluid containing cholesterol and bile acids, an alkaline compound which helps the breakdown of fat).

Our liver acts as a chemical processing factory to change most of the food that you eat into stuff that your body can use, and it gets rid of the things that are no use or are toxic (this word means harmful to your body). There are main three works of our liver:-

• Cleaning of Blood:
  • Our liver takes toxins out of your blood. These may have been made by your body when breaking down proteins or been brought into your body through breathing or ingesting (this means taking into your body) something like alcohol, drugs or other harmful substances.
  • Our liver sorts things out and changes them chemically into what our body can use and turns, what can’t be used into something that dissolves in blood so that it can be carried to the kidneys. For example the liver makes urea from parts of proteins that can’t be used. It is poisonous so the body has to remove it. Blood collects this urea from the liver and sends it to the kidneys. They filter urea from the blood and it is then expelled from the body as waste in our urine.
  • Drinking too much alcohol for a long time can damage the liver so badly that it cannot do its job. This is called cirrhosis.

• Liver makes bile Juice (पितरस):-
  • Our liver produces Bile which travels from the liver into the small intestine. It is a digestive juice which helps the body absorbs fat from the gut into the bloodstream.  Bile Juice contains two pigments- Bilirubin and biliverdin. These both helps in Emulsification of Fat/lipids (Emulsification of fat is a process of digestion of fat in our body).
  • If the amount of Bilirubin and biliverdin increase in the blood, it cause – Jaundice. The liver makes this thick, yellow-green substance then stores it in the gall bladder (The gallbladder, a small pouch that sits just under the liver, stores bile produced by the liver) until the body needs some to digest fats.

• Liver makes and stores minerals and vitamins:
  • Our liver makes glucose from carbohydrates that we eat. Some of this glucose travels in the blood to the rest of the body where it is used for energy.
  • Some of the glucose is stored in the liver as glycogen and it is there until our body needs to use extra energy, like when we have to run fast, react quickly or have to work our body hard for a long time.
  • It also helps to keep blood glucose at the right levels.

Some other work that our liver does :

• Breaking proteins down into amino acids.
• Liver helps in Detoxification (जहर के प्रभाव को कम करता है )
• The liver plays a major role in carbohydrate, protein, amino acid, and lipid metabolism.
• Storing vitamins and minerals – A, D, K and B12, and iron.
• Producing cholesterol: about 80% of the cholesterol in your body is made by the liver from other fats that we eat. Cholesterol is a fat that our body needs for normal growth and health. Too much can be bad for our arteries as it cause heart problems.
• Breaking down the ingredients in medicines, e.g. Pain-killers so that our body can quickly use them to make us feel better.
• Helping with blood clotting so that when we cut ourselves we don’t bleed very long before the blood clots and stops the bleeding.

Hepatitis :

Some infections can harm the liver so that it cannot work well. This is called hepatitis. Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C are some of the illnesses that are caused by viruses. Kids nowadays get immunized against Hepatitis B.

Also Read: – Pancreas (अग्नाशय) in Human Body – Biology Topic.

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Important facts about the Liver for Competitive Exams:

• The liver is part of the human digestive system.
• The largest gland of Human Body – Liver.
• Our liver consists of 96% water. (The water is inside the cells and in blood.)
• Shape of Our liver is – Wedge-like shape.
• The liver is the only human internal organ capable of natural regeneration of lost tissue. Our liver can regenerate (re-build) itself. Even if only 25% of it is still healthy our liver can regenerate itself into a full liver again!
• The average weight of an adult liver is 1.4 kg.
• The average blood volume in the liver is about 10% of the total volume of blood in the entire body.
• Our liver is bigger than your brain.
• The liver is found in the upper right abdomen of the human body.
• The liver works with the kidneys to filter out toxins and waste from the blood.
• The liver creates bile that helps break down fats in the digestive system.
• Bile Juice (पितरस) contains two pigments- Bilirubin and Biliverdin. These both helps in Emulsification of Fat/lipids (Emulsification of fat is a process of digestion of fat in our body).
• If the amount of Bilirubin and biliverdin increase in the blood, it cause – Jaundice.
• Bili-juice secrets from Liver and Store in Gall Bladder (पिताशय).
• The Stone formation in “Gall-Bladder” is due to deposition of Calcium- Oxalate (It is found in Tomato-seeds).
• Liver Helps in Detoxification.
• Our liver stores : Iron and Glycogen in it.
• Medical term for liver is use with – Hepato or hepatic in them.

Liver disease: –

• Viruses such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C can cause liver disease.
• Excess and prolong consumption of Alcohol and recreational drugs can cause live disease – Cirrhosis (to be stonified of Liver Cell) and fatty liver disease.
• Some liver diseases are inherited, like hemochromatosis and Wilson disease.

 

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