What are the functions of the liver?

The largest gland in the body is the liver it weighs about 1.2 to 1.5 kg in an adult human. It has two lobes. The hepatic lobules are the structural and functional units of liver containing hepatic cells arranged in the form of cords. A thin connective tissue sheath called the Glisson’s capsule covers each lobule. The bile secreted by the hepatic cells passes through the hepatic ducts and is stored and concentrated in a thin muscular sac called the gall bladder. The duct of gall bladder (cystic duct) along with the hepatic duct from the liver forms the common bile duct .The bile duct and the pancreatic duct open together into the duodenum as the common hepato-pancreatic duct, which is guarded by a sphincter called the sphincter of Oddi.