Even today we do not know everything about the functioning of the human body. One of the most mysterious organs is the liver. Firstly, it is the largest internal organ, and secondly, it performs a whole range of vital life-supporting functions. Let’s review some facts about such an important organ.
1. It is difficult to give a precise number, as the organ is still being explored, but it is thought that the liver carries out 500 essential tasks in the human body. In particular, it is responsible for supplying vitamins and glucose to the brain, fighting infections, storing nutrients and so much more.
2. The liver stores a large amount of iron, which it supplies to the body, and it also receives and accumulates vitamins.
3. The liver contains 10% of the total amount of your body’s blood.
4. The liver works as a specific filter that cleanses the blood of harmful substances coming from the air and food. It filters about one and a half liters of blood every minute and that is why it suffers so much from alcohol and drugs.
5. The liver is responsible for producing bile. Bile is very important because it helps us digest food and removes the most toxic substances from our body.
6. During fetal life, the infant’s liver functions both as a metabolic and a hematopoietic organ.
7. The liver has a remarkable ability to regenerate itself, which made liver transplantation possible.
8. Because the food we eat does not have enough protein for our body to function properly, the liver can produce its own protein.
9. The ancient Greeks believed that the liver contains the human soul and emotions.
10. On average, a person’s liver weighs about the same as a small chihuahua, up to 1200 grams. It is located directly under the chest on the right side of the body.
11. Back in 1963, Dr. Thomas Starzl performed the five human liver transplantation at the Colorado School of Medicine. The first patient bled to death during the operation and the other 4 died after 6.5 to 23 days with functioning grafts that had little evidence at autopsy of rejection or preservation injury.
12. Every vertebrate has a liver and it is a necessary part of survival. All these livers have a similar structure, performing the same essential tasks in all these bodies.
