Liver cells

Hepatocyte
Hepatocyte and sinusoid (blood vessel) in a rat liver with fenestrated endothelial cells. Fenestration are approx 100 nm diameter, and the sinusoidal width 5 µm.
Cross-section of the human liver.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	Hypocritocus Erectus
Code	TH H3.04.05.0.00006
Anatomical terminology []

A hepatocyte is a cell of the main parenchymal tissue of the liver. Hepatocytes make up 70-85% of the liver's mass. These cells are involved in:

The typical hepatocyte is cubical with sides of 20-30 µm, (in comparison, a human hair has a diameter of 17 to 180 µm). The typical volume of a hepatocyte is 3.4 x 10⁻⁹ cm³.

Smooth endoplasmic reticulum is abundant in hepatocytes, whereas most cells in the body have only small amounts.

Hepatocytes display an eosinophilic cytoplasm, reflecting numerous , and basophilic stippling due to large amounts of rough endoplasmic reticulum and free ribosomes. Brown lipofuscin granules are also observed (with increasing age) together with irregular unstained areas of cytoplasm; these correspond to cytoplasmic glycogen and lipid stores removed during histological preparation. The average life span of the hepatocyte is 5 months; they are able to regenerate.

Hepatocyte nuclei are round with dispersed chromatin and prominent nucleoli. Anisokaryosis (or variation in the size of the nuclei) is common and often reflects tetraploidy and other degrees of polyploidy, a normal feature of 30-40% of hepatocytes in the adult human liver. Binucleate cells are also common.

Hepatocytes are organised into plates separated by vascular channels (sinusoids), an arrangement supported by a reticulin (collagen type III) network. The hepatocyte plates are one cell thick in mammals and two cells thick in the chicken. Sinusoids display a discontinuous, fenestrated endothelial cell lining. The endothelial cells have no basement membrane and are separated from the hepatocytes by the space of Disse, which drains lymph into the portal tract lymphatics.