“Digestive System Accessory Organs”  

  In our body's digestive system, the Accessory Glands and Organs are functional glands and organs directly attached to the walls of the alimentary tract that secrete fluids into the tubular organs of the alimentary tract.

The Dual Systems of Accessory Organs

  In our body, the secretions of the Digestive System Accessory Glands and Organs are critical functional components of the the digestive system.
  In our body, the Digestive System Accessory Organs consist of:

• Salivary glands
• Liver
• Gallbladder
• Pancreas

  In our body, each of these Accessory Organs, the salivary glands, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas are critical functional components of the digestive system, which also serve a primary or vital function in another major body system. *

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“Salivary Glands”  

  In our body's mouth (oral cavity), the Salivary Glands are exocrine glands, glands with ducts, that produce saliva (salivary juice). The salivary glands secrete the enzyme amylase.
  In our body, the Salivary Glands consist of three pairs of major glands: #1 sublingual glands, #2 submandibular glands, #3 parotid gland and hundreds of smaller minor salivary glands that secrete salivary juices into the mouth (oral cavity), which gets mixed with food during mastication (chewing).
  The salivary glands and related structures include:

• salivary ducts
• parotid glands
• minor salivary glands
• sublingual glands
• submandibular glands
• von ebner glands

**

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“Liver”  

  In our body, the Liver is located primarily in the right hypochondriac and epigastric regions of the abdomen, just beneath the diaphragm. The Liver is the largest gland in the body and mainly composed of two epithelial cell types, hepatocytes and ductal cells.
  In our body, the Liver is structurally divided into two major lobes and two smaller lobes, the functional units of the Liver are the Lobules with Sinusoids that carry blood from the periphery to the central vein of the lobule, a healthy liver has 240 billion cells in it. **

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“Hepatic Processes (Liver Processes)”  

Liver Processes

  In our body, Hepatic Processes (Liver Processes) are the liver functions many of which are vital to life.

Liver Functions

  Liver functions include the following:

• Secretion
• Synthesis Of Bile Salts
• Synthesis Of Plasma Protein
• Storage
• Detoxification
• Excretion
• Carbohyrate Metabolism
• Lipid Metabolism
• Protein Metabolism
• Filtering

Hepatocytes perform most of the functions attributed to the Liver, but the phagocytic kupffer cells that line the sinusoids are responsible for cleansing the blood. **

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“Gallbladder”  

  In our body, the Gallbladder, a storage reservoir for bile secretion, is a sac, about the size and shape of a pear, that may be divided into three portions the fundus, body and neck (infundibulum), which lies on the undersurface of the liver in the upper right-hand portion of the abdominal cavity adjacent to the lateral margin of the first and second portions of the duodenum.
  In our body, the gallbladder is attached to the posterior visceral surface of the right lobe of the liver connected by a cystic duct.

The gallbladder is connected to the liver and the intestine by a series of small tubes, or ducts, allowing a controlled bile acid delivery at a high concentrations via the cystic duct to the duodenum, for degradation of dietary lipids.

Gallbladder Functions

  In our body, the principal function of the gallbladder is to serve as a storage reservoir for bile.

In our body, the primary job of the gallbladder is to store bile, which is produced and secreted continuously by the liver, until the bile is needed to aid in digestion.

After a meal

In our body, the gallbladder, after a meal, contracts and discharges the bile into the duodenum (intestine). When digestion of the meal is over, the gallbladder relaxes and once again begins to store bile. **

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“Pancreas”  

  In our body's abdominal cavity, the Pancreas, is a nodular glandular organ that contains a mixture of both endocrine glands that secrete hormones (pancreatic hormones) and exocrine glands that secrete digestive enzymes (pancreatic enzymes).
  In our body's abdominal cavity, the stomach and is connected to the small intestine at the duodenum. **

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