The liver is considered to be the “check-post” of the body. It is the largest glandular organ in the human body. The liver has more functions than any other gland in the body. The human blood passes through the liver to several times a day to get filtered or detoxified. This is highly vascular (having huge blood supply all the time) and hence is considered to be one of the most vital organs.

The liver checks out the dangerous drugs, alcohol, pathogens, microorganisms and environmental toxins. When the liver is not functioning well, there are more chances for having drug side effects, allergy and drug toxicity which may result into various bad conditions like diarrhea, malaise, headache, digestive disorders etc.

The liver also interacts with carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It utilizes them to produce the energy. It stores the glycogen and vitamins and releases when the body is not receiving enough energy or when the body needs it in some adverse conditions. The liver also removes the excess hormones from the blood as well as provides feedback for the release of certain hormones. The bad liver can result into infertility, emotional imbalance, excessive anger (behavior changes) and sexual dysfunctions.

The hepatocytes (liver cells) uses the rich blood supply to metabolize the digestive food, break down excess ammonia into urea, store vitamins like A, D, E K, B –twelve and folic acids, regulation of the hormones and proteins. They also produce the blood clotting factors. Hepatocytes secrete bile and regulate the state of mood.

The liver receives about two and a half liters of blood from the tissues and organs including the bowel which is highly toxic. The liver removes the toxins from the blood every minute and excretes them.

However the liver’s activity varies from an individual to another based on genetics, the individual’s exposure to chemical toxins and also for nutritional status. This could be the reason why some are having good immunity compare to others.

There are many causes. The liver could be damaged or malfunctioning due to congenital or inherited abnormalities. There could be infections of viruses, bacteria or other micro organisms. Alcohol consumption causes liver damage for sure.

Infections

There are many ways for getting the liver infected. Infections are very important cause for the hepatitis (the inflammation of the liver). Primary viral infections are common and viruses are the majority causative factors for the same. There are three major viruses that cause the hepatic damage namely HEPATITIS VIRUS A, B and C. They infect nearly five hundred thousand people a year only in USA.

In addition to this, fungi, bacteria and protozoa can also affect the liver function. Liver is also inevitably involved to blood borne infections to some extent.

Inflammatory disorders

The hepatitis involves the damage and inflammation of the liver cells called as hepatocytes. This may be raised due to toxins, immunologic attack or infectious agents. In some cases the antitrypsin deficiency can also imitate hepatitis.

Toxins

Drugs, alcohols, certain chemicals and poisons can cause the hepatic damage. They can effect the liver by directly i.e. damaging the liver cells or indirectly i.e. by stimulating an autoimmune response or by reducing the defenses. Exact mechanism is not yet clear.

Chemicals and poisons – both industrial and environmental can cuase a wide variety of damage or alteration in lever functions. Liver damage is not necessarily dose-dependent and may vary in range from mild, asymptomatic inflammation to sudden and sever failure or progressive cirrhosis and fibrosis.

The alcohol is primarily synthesized in liver and these metabolites may damage the liver. The study says that the risk of liver toxicity increases if about four drinks or more than 40 ml alcohol is consumed a day.

Numerous drugs can also damage the liver in significant manner. The damage may range from mild, moderate to severe. The result could be liver failure and sometimes even to the fatal attack. If the situation is remained untouched for long term, it may end up in death. Anti-tubercular drugs, NSAID, anti-pyretic drugs are very well known drugs that cause the liver damage.

Immunological mechanisms

The immune system of the human body recognizes the foreign or non-self antigens, for instance, invading bacteria, virus and their proteins. These antigens are recognized by antibodies (these are the proteins those can specifically bind antigens and help removing them from the human body) and then finally eliminated.

Now, in some cases, autoimmunity is developed where the immune system reacts against “self” antigens by mistake. This is occurred in primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune hepatitis. These are two diseases in which the immune system targets and attacks some portion of liver and finally destroys. If this is left untreated, the persistent inflammation of the liver can eventually turns into the liver cirrhosis, the dangerous condition of the liver.

The vascular disorders

When there is an obstruction of the portal blood flow that drains the blood from the intestines, spleen and stomach there will be portal hypertension. Portal hypertension is nothing but the elevation in the portal blood pressure that directly affects the liver as the liver filters the portal blood.

Neoplastic disorders and others

Non-cancerous hepatic tumors are generally asymptomatic and most common of them are hemangiomas. The liver is the common site for blood-borne malignant tumor metastases. This may include breast, lung, pancreas, ovarian, stomach and colorectal cancers.

Hepatocellular carcinoma occurs in the most of the patient with severe cirrhosis from alcoholism, viral infections or hemochromatosis. Men are more affected than the women and the prognosis is dismal with the average of survival of about six months after the symptoms are actually come in to pictures.

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