Your liver is one of your most resilient and powerful organs. Its unique ability to repair and regenerate has inspired numerous clinical studies aimed at understanding how this healing process works. How does liver regeneration occur? Read on to learn more about this remarkable organ.
Liver regeneration isn’t the result of a single mechanism; it’s a coordinated response involving multiple cell types, signaling pathways, and structural components within the liver.
One of the most important components of your liver is its hepatocytes. These cells make up about 80% of the organ. They perform a variety of crucial functions, including the synthesis of proteins, the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats, and, crucially, the removal of toxins.
By neutralizing and transforming drugs, alcohol, and other toxic substances into less harmful ones that you can eliminate, hepatocytes protect the liver and your entire body. When the liver experiences any kind of damage, it prompts these cells to divide, creating new, healthy hepatocytes to ensure the organ can function as needed.
If the damage to the organ is too great for the existing hepatocytes to handle, liver regeneration can occur with help from progenitor cells. These are reserve cells found in the canal of Hering, which is a transitional structure that connects bile canaliculi to the organ’s bile ducts.
Progenitor cells are stem cells. When brought in as reserves, they differentiate into liver cells and begin tackling the damage by rebuilding liver tissue.
When you sustain damage to the liver, the existing cells will enlarge to fill the gap left by damaged cells. This is called hypertrophy. By enlarging in this manner, it allows cells to process toxins more easily.
If a part of the organ suffers an injury, liver regeneration depends in part on hypertrophy to return to its full mass so that normal function can continue. These cells then mature, fulfilling all of the tasks of the original liver cells.
To trigger the healing process, the liver has key molecular signaling pathways that function as switches. Once they’re “on,” liver regeneration begins. Of these pathways, one of the most vital is the Wnt/β-catenin pathway because it can trigger cell multiplication.
Despite all of these factors, the liver’s ability to heal itself has limits. There are some conditions that can result in permanent damage and eventually cause the organ to fail.
Chronic conditions are particularly problematic because they cause constant inflammation and damage. The liver struggles to heal all the issues these conditions cause, hindering its function. Viral hepatitis can cause this, as can non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The most common of these conditions, however, is chronic alcohol use.
When the organ experiences continuous injuries, it begins to deposit excess collagen in the damaged areas. This buildup eventually forms scar tissue known as fibrosis. Unlike healthy liver tissue, scar tissue cannot perform normal functions, which further impairs the organ over time.
If fibrosis continues to spread, your liver can develop cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is considered a late stage of chronic liver disease, when so much scar tissue has built up that it begins to change the liver’s structure and interfere with how it works.
Although cirrhosis cannot be reversed, it is often possible to prevent additional scarring. With the right treatment, lifestyle changes, and medical monitoring, many people can slow the progression of cirrhosis and protect their remaining healthy liver function.
The liver’s remarkable ability to repair damage and restore function has led many clinical studies to focus on harnessing its regenerative potential. By gaining a deeper understanding of the structures and processes involved in liver regeneration, researchers can develop new therapies for late-stage liver disease and other serious conditions.
At Orlando Clinical Research Center, we are committed to advancing this work. As a clinical research facility specializing in Phase I–IV clinical trials, we partner with pharmaceutical and biotech organizations to help them better understand how to support patients living with complex liver disorders.
We are currently conducting multiple studies examining drug absorption in the liver. Contact our team today to learn more about participating in a clinical trial.
