The liver and regulating blood nutrients

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It processes the nutrient-rich blood from the gut, adjusting, storing and removing nutrients to keep the blood's composition **steady**.

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A **liver cell** — the cell type that carries out the liver's chemical jobs, including regulating blood nutrients.

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A **storage carbohydrate** (a polymer of glucose) made by the liver when blood glucose is high and broken down when it is low.

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It **takes up glucose and stores it as glycogen** (triggered by insulin), so blood glucose falls back to normal.

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It **breaks glycogen back into glucose** and releases it (triggered by glucagon), so blood glucose rises back to normal.

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**Insulin** → store as glycogen (high glucose); **glucagon** → release glucose from glycogen (low glucose).

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Because the liver's response always **opposes** the change — a rise triggers storage, a fall triggers release — returning glucose toward its set point.

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The liver removes it from the blood and releases it into **bile**; the cholesterol is then lost from the body in the **faeces**.

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Removing excess **cholesterol** (into bile), **detoxifying** substances like alcohol, and breaking down old **red blood cells**.

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A yellow **pigment** produced when the liver breaks down old **red blood cells**; it is passed into bile.

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Bilirubin **is not cleared** by a damaged liver, so it **builds up** in the blood and colours the skin and the whites of the eyes **yellow**.

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Alcohol is **detoxified by hepatocytes**; an excess **damages and scars** them, so the liver regulates glucose, cholesterol and other substances less effectively.