Lively Liver

What am I looking at?  

These are mouse liver cells. Liver cells have one or two large circular nuclei, shown in green (1). Each cell contacts the neighboring cell’s blood vessels, shown in pink (2). The yellow structures you see between the cells (3) are pumps and ducts that transport substances made in the surrounding liver cells to the rest of the body.

Biology in the background  

The liver plays a huge role in many metabolic processes, such as digestion. All blood must pass through the liver for filtration, to maintain the right balance of chemicals and nutrients. The liver breaks down external toxins like alcohol and drugs, fights infections, and provides energy to the body. This means that toxins from the blood end up in the liver, where they are broken down, packaged, then transported to the intestine to be removed from the body.

In mice, these cells are about 18 micrometers in diameter, or roughly four times smaller than the width of a human hair. In humans, these cells are about 25 micrometers in diameter, or roughly three times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Technique  

These images were produced using fluorescence microscopy.