Histology of the Liver MCQ - Practice Questions with Answers

• The liver is the largest gland in the body, weighing about three pounds in an adult.
• It is present in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, just below the diaphragm.
• The liver is heavier in males than in females.
• The liver is connected to the abdominal wall and diaphragm by five peritoneal folds referred to as ligaments.
• The lesser omentum tethers the liver to the lesser curvature of the stomach.

Histology of Liver:

• The liver is covered by two sheaths or layers.
• The outer sheath is the serous capsule. It is made up of visceral peritoneum.
• The inner sheath is called the Glisson’s capsule. It is made up of dense connective tissue.
• The liver is divided into two primary lobes: a large right lobe and a smaller left lobe.
• Hepatic lobules are the functional units of the liver. These are present in each lobe of the liver.
• 50,000 to 1,00,000 hepatic lobules are present in the liver.
• The hepatic lobule is made up of hepatocytes.
• A hepatocyte is the liver’s main cell type, accounting for around 80 per cent of the liver's volume. 
• These cells play a role in a wide variety of secretory, metabolic, and endocrine functions.
• The hepatocytes are arranged in the form of hepatic plates.
• Each plate is made up of two columns of hepatocytes.
• In between the two columns, there are narrow ducts called bile canaliculi.
• These small ducts accumulate bile produced by hepatocytes. 
• From here, bile flows first into bile ductules and then into bile ducts.
• The bile ducts unite to form the larger right and left hepatic ducts, which themselves merge and exit the liver as the common hepatic duct.
• In between the neighbouring hepatic plates, a blood space called sinusoid is present.
• The sinusoid is made up of loose connective tissue and is composed of Kupffer cells, arterioles and venules.
• The hepatic sinusoids combine and send blood to a central vein.
• Blood then flows through a hepatic vein into the inferior vena cava.
• The portal triad is a distinctive arrangement around the perimeter of hepatic lobules, consisting of three basic structures: a bile duct, hepatic artery branch, and a hepatic portal vein branch.