Liver
Performs several hundred distinct functions: filtering blood from the digestive tract, metabolising drugs and alcohol, producing bile, storing glycogen and manufacturing most blood plasma proteins. Nearly everything absorbed from the gut passes through it before reaching the rest of the body.
Where it is
Upper right abdomen, under the diaphragm and mostly behind the ribs.
The numbers
- Mass
- 1.4–1.6 kg
- Blood flow
- about 1.5 litres per minute
- Share of body mass
- roughly 2%
Worth knowing
The liver is the only human internal organ capable of substantial regeneration — as little as 25% of the tissue can regrow to full size, which is what makes living-donor transplants possible. It is also the only organ with two blood supplies, receiving both oxygenated arterial blood and nutrient-rich blood from the intestines.
Structural reference only — this is not medical advice, and individual variation in every figure here is substantial. Anything concerning your own health belongs with a clinician rather than a reference page.
Common questions
- What does the liver do?
- Performs several hundred distinct functions: filtering blood from the digestive tract, metabolising drugs and alcohol, producing bile, storing glycogen and manufacturing most blood plasma proteins.
- Liver — key numbers
- Mass: 1.4–1.6 kg. Blood flow: about 1.5 litres per minute. Share of body mass: roughly 2%.
Related pages
- Heart A four-chambered pump, roughly fist-sized, beating about 100,000 times a day.
- Brain About 1.4 kg, using roughly 20% of the body’s energy at 2% of its mass.
- Lungs Two unequal lungs with a gas-exchange surface of about 70 square metres.
- Skin The largest organ — about 2 m² and 4 kg in an adult.
- Kidneys Two fist-sized filters processing about 180 litres of blood a day.
- Bones Bones
- Blood types Blood
- Teeth Teeth
- Blood Blood
- The senses Senses
- Taste Senses
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place