If both liver and kidneys are cleaning the blood, what’s the difference between them?
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If the kidneys are a filtration unit, the liver is an upstream chemical processing unit.
Kidneys take out pretty much the majority of the plasma content (ions, small molecules, water, small proteins, etc) and then depending on the signals it receives by countless pathways and hormones, decides which and how much to get back and keep of those.
The liver on the other hand is equipped with a gigantic amount of pathways that can break down all sorts of “unusual” chemicals, things that the rest of the body cannot readily use or handle. Things that could really hurt the body too. And then, those things reach the kidneys and either get excreted or kept. Of course in the case of toxins, excreted. In a way, the liver also does the kidneys a favor, because they concentrate things very highly in them when filtering, and a toxin would do a number of the kidneys if not “neutralized” (broken down to something less bad) first.
Of course, in physiology, nothing is black and white. Kidneys also have a bunch of cytochrome enzymes that can break down things. Not to mention that both organs serve a lot more functions. For example the kidneys don’t just get rid of waste, they also regulate ion homeostasis, acid base balance, blood pressure, red blood cell production, etc.. The liver has a hand in everything metabolic, ranging from making glucose, to taking care of fat, to making sure phosphate and calcium don’t crystallize together wreaking havoc, etc etc. Barely brushed over the basics here.
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