LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Liver: Blood
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Liver encephalopathy is the deterioration of brain function due to toxic substances building up in the blood, which are normally removed by the liver. Liver encephalopathy is ... called portal-systemic encephalopathy, hepatic encephalopathy, or hepatic coma. Symptoms may include:
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The other source of blood for the liver is the portal vein, supplying 2/3 of the blood that flows into the liver. The nutrients in the portal vein originate from the digestive tract, this time, not the heart, like the hepatic artery does. In essence, raw food that is absorbed from the intestines flows directly to the liver. This exposes the liver to toxins and bacteria, which are metabolized and detoxified by a normal liver before they leave the liver and enter the general circulation via the heart. This detoxification process protects other organs, particularly the brain, from bacteria and toxins that could injure brain cells. When this system fails, which happens in liver shunts, excess ammonia will build up in the bloodstream and affect the brain.
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The large size of the liver is matched by its functional complexity and involvement in a diverse array of regulatory mechanisms. The liver plays a key role in assuring carbohydrate homeostasis (dynamic steady-state conditions) by removing simple sugars from the general circulation after ingestion of food and storing them as glycogen. In the intervals between ingestion of food, liver glycogen is broken down. This process tends to maintain blood sugar levels between 80 and 100 mg per 100 ml of blood. Under conditions of prolonged fast, where glycogen stores are exhausted, the liver is capable of converting noncarbohydrate metabolites such as amino acids and fats into glucose to maintain blood sugar levels. The complex steps involved in maintaining carbohydrate metabolism are subject to endocrine control, with the liver serving as a particularly sensitive target organ of hormone regulators such as insulin.
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In the fetus, the liver develops throughout normal gestation, and does not perform the normal filtration of the infant liver. The liver does not perform digestive processes because the fetus does not consume meals directly, but receives nourishment from the mother via the placenta. The fetal liver releases some blood stem cells that migrate to the fetal thymus, so initially the lymphocytes, called T-cells, are created from fetal liver stem cells. Once the fetus is delivered, the formation of blood stem cells in infants shifts to the red bone marrow.
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The liver is an organ in the abdomen which is necessarily to live . It is mostly located behind the right ribcage, and when it becomes enlarged it protrudes below the right ribcage ("right costal margin"). It is composed of right and left "lobes", and a smaller "quadrate" lobe. Thegall bladder hangs down from the bottom of the liver, collecting greenish bile from it. The liver has as a major blood supply the "hepatic artery" which comes off of the aorta. The "hepatic vein" collects nutrients and drugs from the intestines and delivers them to the liver for processing. The liver drains blood via the large "inferior vena cava", directly into the heart. There is ... a system of draining "lymph glands" around the liver which help to purify the blood.
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The donor's blood in the liver will be replaced by an ice-cold organ storage solution, such as UW (Viaspan) or HTK until the allograft liver is implanted. Implantation involves anastomoses (connections) of the inferior vena cava, portal vein, and hepatic artery. After blood flow is restored to the new liver, the biliary (bile duct) anastomosis is constructed, either to the recipient's own bile duct or to the small intestine. The surgery usually takes between five and six hours, but may be longer or shorter due to the difficulty of the operation and the experience of the surgeon.
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