Thursday, March 5, 2009

organ systems: the liver and lipid digestion

this unit reviewed some basic concepts about fat digestion and went into some more depth about the anatomy and physiology of the liver and gall bladder. the liver is located in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen, deep to the 5-10th ribs. it is suspended by the lesser omentum ligament, which attaches it to the intestine and the stomach, and the falciform ligament, which attaches it to the anterior of the abdominal wall. it has four lobes- left, right, quadrate, and caudate. the ligamentum teres (round ligament) is the vestigial remains of the umbilical vein that brought blood from the placenta. finally, the porta hepatis is the "hilum" or root of the liver (similar to the hilum of the lung) and contains the bile duct, hepatic portal vein and hepatic artery.

the liver receives nutrient rich and oxygen poor blood from the GI tract- specifically the gastric, splenic, and mesenteric arteries, which comes into the liver via the hepatic portal vein. it receives nutrient poor, oxygenated blood from the hepatic artery which branches off of the celiac artery. the liver cells, hepatocytes, are in hexagonal arrangements which have portal "triads" in each corner which contain bile ducts, hepatic portal veins, and hepatic arteries. in the center of the hexagons is the central vein, which leads to the hepatic vein, which leads to the inferior vena cava back to the heart. running from the edges of the hexagonal "lobule" are the sinuosoids where most of the functional activity of the liver takes place. the liver acinus theory describes the functional unit of the liver as the triangle between two portal triad corners and a central vein-- which is divided into three zones: zone 1 is closest to the central vein and although has lowest oxygen / nutrient content, is the site of most detoxification and chemical activity.

portal hypertension can occur from blockages in liver blood flow, resulting in a backpressure in portal circulation. this can cause a number of pathologies such as caput medusa, esophageal varicosities, and hemorrhoids. additionally, excess lymph can be drained from the liver (lymph drains into the space of disse, the tiny canals between the hepatocytes and sinusoids) and can collect in the peritoneal cavity, resulting in ascites. in this condition, the loss of fluid in the circulatory system must be compensated by renal devices which increase fluid retention such as aldosterone and renin secretion.

bile is secreted by hepatocytes and flows to the periphery of the hexogonal lobule, draining into the bile ducts, which drain into the right and left hepatic ducts. these combine to form the common hepatic duct, which combines with the bile duct from the gall bladder, called the cystic duct, to form the common bile duct. the common bile duct intersects with the main pancreatic duct at the hepatopancreatic ampulla and exits into the duodenum at the major duodenal papilla. the tissue around this point forms a sphincter called the sphincter of odie which contracts between meals or during fasting, which causes bile to stored in the gall bladder instead of being released into the duodenum.

bile stored in the gall bladder is made of bile salts, cholesterol, phospholipids, water, and can be concentrated over time via water reabsorption, or secretion of bile salts and cholesterol. if the bile becomes too concentrated in the gall bladder, over long periods of time with no contraction, then gall stones can precipitate out. in normal function, CCK and secretin are released from duodenal I and S cells, respectively, in response to protein, fat, or acid in the intestine (see "intestinal phase" in last lecture), causing an increase in pancreatic secretion, decrease in gastric secretion/motility, and bile release from gall bladder via contraction of the gall bladder and relaxation of the sphincter of odie. vagal stimulation can have the same effect. once in the intestine, bile surrounds fat molecules and aids in their absorption. the chapter in biochem covers this in much greater detail than what was presented in this lecture.

questions
location and anatomy...
1. where is the liver located?
2. what are the two ligaments that suspend the liver and where are they?
3. what are the lobes of the liver?
4. what is the ligamentum teres of the liver?
5. what is the porta hepatis?

physiology...
6. what are some of the functions of the liver?
7. how much blood does the liver receive (in terms of percentage of cardiac output)?
8. how does the liver get its oxygenated blood?
9. what does the portal vein bring to the liver? where does it bring it from?
10. what are sinusoids lined with?
11. what do the hepatic veins do?

lobules...
12. what is the classical lobule model of the liver?
13. what are the portal triads and what do they contain?
14. what is in the middle of the classical lobule?
15. what is the liver acinus model of the liver?
16. what are the three zones in the liver acinus model?
17. which zone is most susceptible to hypoxia and toxic damage?

hypertension and other pathologies...
18. where are the spaces of disse? what flows in them?
19. what is meant by "portal hypertension"?
20. what are some pathologies that portal hypertension can contribute to?
21. what is ascites?
22. how does ascites affect blood pressure?

bile secretion...
23. describe bile secretion by hepatocytes.
24. what are bile secretions made of?
25. what do the right and left hepatic ducts do?
26. ...common hepatic duct?
27. ...cystic duct
28. ...common bile duct
29. ...hepatopancreatic ampulla
30. ...main pancreatic duct
31. ...major duodenal papilla

gall bladder...
32. what are the three parts to the gall bladder?
33. what are three functions of the gall bladder?
34. how does the sphincter of oddi help store bile in the gall bladder?
35. describe two ways in which bile can be released by the gall bladder.
36. besides gall bladder emptying, what else does CCK mediate?
37. what effect does secretin have on the gall bladder and pancreas?
38. how are gallstones created?
39. what are two functions of bile?

micelles...
40. what is the general scheme for fat digestion?
41. about how big are micelles?
42. what pH is optimal for the action of pancreatic lipase?
43. which enzyme hydrolyzes cholesterol?
44. what are micelles made of?
45. how are bile salts formed?
46. what happens to the micelle contents at the enterocyte?
47. where does most of the reabsorption of bile acids and salts occur in the intestine?

chylomicrons and lipoproteins...
48. what are chylomicrons composed of?
49. 80-90% of chylomicrons are transported into...
50. how is the processing of short and medium chain fatty acids different?
51. what are the roles of: chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL, and HDL?
52. what makes feces brown and urine yellow?
53. jaundice is caused by...

answers
1. upper right abdomen between ribs 5-10.
2. lesser omentum between liver and stomach/intestine, falciform ligament between liver and anterior abdominal wall.
3. left, right, quadrate, caudate.
4. the round ligament, which is a vestigal remains of the umbilical vein carrying blood from the placenta to the fetus.
5. the "hilum" of the liver that contains bile ducts, hepatic arteries, and portal vein.

6. glycogen storage, gluconeogenesis, synthesis of TG's, cholesterol, phospholipids, fatty acid oxidation, protein synthesis, urea cycle, storage of vitamins and iron, detoxification, bile secretion.
7. 29%
8. via the celiac artery which branches off of the aorta
9. nutrient filled, deoxygenated blood from the gastric, splenic, and mesenteric veins.
10. hepatocytes
11. bring blood out of the superior aspect of the liver into the inferior vena cava.

12. divides hepatocytes into hexagonal "lobule" arrangements.
13. the corners of the hexagon in the classical lobule which contain the bile duct, hepatic artery and portal vein.
14. the central vein, which leads to the hepatic vein.
15. a model which has a functional "acinus" unit which is the triangle between two portal triads and a central vein.
16. zone 1 is closest to the portal triads and has the highest concentration of oxygen and nutrients. zone 2 is in the middle, zone 3 is closest to central vein and receives least nutrients but is primary site of alcohol and drug detoxification.
17. zone 3.

18. between hepatocytes and endothelium of sinusoids. lymph flows from sinusoids into space of disse, and sent to thoracic duct or inferior vena cava.
19. when a blockage of blood flow in the liver leads to backpressure in the portal circulation.
20. hemorrhoids, caput medusae, esophageal varicosities.
21. when portal hypertension causes excess lymph to flow in the space of disse, causing buildup of fluid in the peritoneal cavity.
22. since blood volume is lost to the lymph fluid that is trapped in the peritoneal cavity, blood pressure drops and the kidneys compensate by increasing salt and fluid retention until pressure is restored.

23. bile is secreted by hepatocytes and flows to the periphery of the portal lobules.
24. bile acids, phospholipids, cholesterol, along with bicarbonate and bile pigments (bilirubin)
25. bile outflow from the liver
26. junction between right and left hepatic ducts.
27. outflow from gall bladder.
28. outflow of bile from both gall bladder and liver.
29. junction of bile and pancreatic ducts.
30. outflow from pancreas.
31. bile and pancreatic secretion into duodenum.

32. body, neck, fundus.
33. store bile, concentrate bile, release bile into duodenum.
34. by contracting between meals, it allows backflow of bile from common bile duct into cystic duct into gall bladder.
35. CCK release triggered by fat or protein reach chyme entering the duodenum causes the sphincter of oddi to relax and the gall bladder to contract. vagus nerve stimulation has the same effect.
36. inhibits gastric mixing and secretion, stimulates intestinal mixing, stimulates pancreatic secretion.
37. increased water and bicarbonate secretion from duct cells.
38. either too much absorption of water (can be due to inflammation of epithelium), or high cholesterol content in stored bile (from too much absorption of bile salts, or too much secretion of cholesterol into bile)
39. to aid in fat digestion, and also elimination of various endogenous and exogenous substances such as cholesterol, bilirubin, drugs, heavy metals.

40. pancreatic lipase hydrolyzes triacylglycerides into free fatty acids, which are packaged into micelles via bile droplets. fatty acids are absorbed into enterocytes and bile is reabsorbed. fatty acids are reconverted to triacylglycerides, packaged into chylomicrons and transported in the blood.
41. ~1um
42. pH 8.
43. cholesterol esterase.
44. bile acids, phospholipids, cholesterol, and the fat that is trapped in the lipophilic core
45. bile acids are conjugated in the liver to form bile salts.
46. fatty acids are repackaged into triacylglycerol and cholesterol is esterified in the enterocyte, then packaged into a chylomicron in the ER.
47. the ileum.
48. cholesterol and triglycerides in a phospholipid shell with apoproteins.
49. lacteals and thoracic duct.
50. they are not packaged into chylomicrons and instead are transported directly into the venous system and stored in the liver and adipose.
51. chylomicrons transport fat from intestine into the blood. VLDL's transport triacylglycerides from the liver into the blood. LDL's are produced in plasma and trasnport cholesterol esters from liver to organs and tissues. HDL's are produced in plasma and transport cholesterol from peripheral tissues to the liver.
52. bilirubin is converted by colonic bacteria into urobilinogen, which can be excreted in the urine or converted to stercobilin and excreted in feces.
53. excess bilirubin

No comments:

Post a Comment