Where is the liver and what are its functions?

The human liver is one of the most important organs, earlier believed that it is in it that vital energy is concentrated. Indeed, without it people can not live. The modern person needs to know where the liver is located, what its purpose is and what can disrupt the work of an important organ.

It is an unpaired entity, weighs more than a kilogram and performs so many functions that it is artificially impossible to create a model of this body.

Where is the liver located?

Its place in the human body is the right hypochondrium, that is, the right upper quadrant of the abdomen. It has a fairly large size and shape resembling a triangle. The tail part extends under the left rib. The liver should not protrude from under the costal arch.

By its different sides, it comes into contact with the pleura, the intestine, the right kidney, the adrenal gland and the stomach.

The liver tissue itself does not have pain receptors, but a large number of them are contained in a capsule covering the organ from the outside. With inflammation of the body, this capsule is stretched, which causes a characteristic pain where the liver is located.

The organ is divided into parts. The right share is large, and the left one is 5-6 times smaller.

In the lower part of it there is a gallbladder, it serves as a reservoir for bile, which is produced and flows along it into it.

Functions of the liver

If you build a laboratory that can perform all the functions of this body, it will occupy a huge high-rise building. This body has more than 500 different functions, the most important of which are the following.

• Participation in the digestive process is the production of bile, lipids, enzymes and cholesterol.
• Neutralization of various toxins and poisons due to chemical reactions, when the initial harmful substance is first oxidized, and then conjugated (attachment of any compound takes place, due to which the damaging properties of the poison are lost).
• Development of blood components in the fetus during intrauterine development
• Synthesis and accumulation of fat-soluble vitamins, microelements.
• The liver can be called a "storehouse" of blood, this stock can be thrown out at a critical time, for example during massive blood loss.
• From this organ depends the clotting ability of blood, it is here that the components of hemostasis (bleeding stops) are formed and stored, which are released into the blood as needed.
• Gluconeogenesis is the conversion of various substances into glucose. It is known that glucose is the universal source of energy for cells. Without the work of the liver, this energy can not be obtained.

Diseases

The liver is in constant work, it all time neutralizes, synthesizes, removes. That is why its normal work is important, in case of violations of the functioning, other systems of the organism also fail.

In case of abnormalities in the body, the pain in the place where the liver is located does not always appear. This is due to the fact that its dimensions do not increase, and the capsule does not stretch.

The organ can suffer from helminths that clog the ducts, bacterial and non-bacterial formations (abscesses, cysts), as well as chronic nonspecific inflammations.

Today, a large number of people have hepatitis or cancer, long not knowing about it. It is hepatitis C that is called a "gentle killer," where the liver is located, connective tissue appears that completely replaces healthy cells. A person does not bother, and his body gradually decreases in size.

Keep your liver healthy, you do not need to overload it with heavy fatty foods, drink alcohol, drugs and smoke cigarettes. Often a person exposes himself to danger, without thinking about the possible consequences.