Veronica Seymanski, age 15, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for her question:
WHAT DOES A PERSON'S LIVER DO?
Your liver is an extremely complicated organ and it has many functions. It is the most valuable chemical laboratory in the body and it is called a vital organ. If the liver stops functioning, death will occur within 24 hours.
The liver receives blood from the stomach and intestines through the portal vein. In the liver, this vein divides into a network of_ capillaries. As it,passes through he liver, the blood is freed of its waste matter and poisons.
The liver cells also remove some sugar from the blood and change it into a kind of animal starch callled glycogen. Liver cells store glycogen to be given out again as sugar when the blood needs it.
Another function of the liver is to manufacture bile. This thick, greenish or yellow fluid is poured into the small intestine, where it aids digestion. It is stored in the gall bladder.
The liver also stores vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A and D and those of the B complex group. It contains vitamin 8 12, required for the normal production of the red blood cells and the prevention of pernicious anemia.
The liver also stores iron needed to produce hemoglobin, the red pigment of the blood.
In addition, it makes many blood proteins. The chief ones are albumin, globulin and fibrinogen.
Albumin decreases the ability of the blood to flow through capillary walls and tends to prevent edema. The globulin part of blood plasma contains immune bodies that provide resistance to infectious disease. Fibrinogen makes the blood clot and prevents extensive bleeding.
Another very important function of the liver is to form urea, a nitrogen substance derived from proteins in food. Digestion breaks down the protein substances in food and the blood stream carries them to the liver.
Urea forms in the liver from the protein substances that have been broken down. The liver releases urea into the blood stream, which carries it to the kidneys. The kidneys excrete the urea and it leaves the body in urine.
In man, the liver is the largest glandular organ in the body. It weighs from three to four pounds and is a soft, dark red or chocolate colore d mass.
The liver lies mainly on the right side of the abdominal cavity. Its upper surface curves inward and fits close to the diaphragm. The liver is flat and irregular below, and thicker behind than in front.
The liver's lower surface touches the intestines and the right kidney.
Five ligaments hold the liver in place. Grooves, or fissures, divide it into four lobes or sections. The two principal lobes are on the underside. The right lobe is much larger than the left one.
Because the liver destroys various parasites and poisons brought into the body, it often becomes diseased itself.