Liver system. IV. More on the liver micro-unit: physics and geometry of its action.
The geometry of liver functional micro-units is described in the light of the immunohistologic features of human hepatocytes stained with a retinol-binding protein antibody. The stained cells were distributed into two ordered sets which provided a provisional representation of the law regulating both the motion and the alternation of the rest-work phases (homopoiesis and homorhesis configurations, respectively) which reflect bistable liver micro-unit equilibrium (auto-isodiasostasis). Oscillations between the HP and HR states generate a relaxation cycle that can be assumed to be shared by all micro-units and to be regulated by feedback mechanisms. A model illustrating the compactness of the liver's global action as a result of the activity of each micro-unit is also proposed.
Dioguardi
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Istituto di Medicina Interna, Università degli Studi di Milano.
D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological