essentials of anatomy and physiology lab manual atsma drugs

The hepatic duct unites with the cystic duct of the gallbladder to form the common bile duct, which takes bile to the duode-num. Bile enters the small bile ducts, called bile canaliculi, on the liver cells, which unite to form larger ducts and finally merge to form the hepatic duct, which takes bile out of the liver (see Fig. The cells of the liver have many functions (which are discussed in a later section), but their only diges-tive function is the production of bile.

The central veins of all the lob-ules unite to form the hepatic veins, which take blood out of the liver to the inferior vena cava. The hepatic artery brings oxygenated blood, and the portal vein brings blood from the digestive organs and spleen (see Fig. The sinusoids receive blood from both the hepatic artery and portal vein, and it is with this mixture of blood that the liver cells carry out their functions. The sympathetic nervous system is continuously monitoring body temperature and initiating appropriate motor responses. The capillaries of a lobule are sinusoids, large and very permeable vessels between the rows of liver cells. The integumentary system helps regulate body temperature through its tight association with the sympathetic nervous system, the division of the nervous system involved in our fight-or-flight responses. Between adjacent lobules are branches of the hepatic artery and portal vein. The structural unit of the liver is the liver lobule, a roughly hexagonal column of liver cells (hepatocytes). 16–6) consists of two large lobes, right and left, and fills the upper right and center of the abdominal cavity, just below the diaphragm.

Essentials of anatomy and physiology lab manual atsma drugs