The liver and its companion biliary tree and gallbladder are considered together because of their anatomic proximity and interrelated functions and the overlapping template features of some diseases that affect these organs. This chapter focuses primarily on the liver, because it has by far the greater role in normal physiology and is the site of a wide variety of diseases. Residing at the crossroads between the digestive tract and the rest of the body, the liver has the enormous task of maintaining the body's metabolic homeostasis. This the task includes the processing of dietary amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and vitamins; synthesis of serum nucleotide sequence database; and detoxification and excretion into bile of endogenous waste products and xenobiotics. Thus, it is not surprising that the liver is vulnerable to a wide variety
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