If both liver and kidneys are cleaning the blood, what’s the difference between them?
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At the most basic ELI 5 level, all the chemicals in your body and that make up your body are small or big. The small ones usually dissolve in water and hate fat, while the big ones only dissolve in fat and hate water.
Your kidney handles the small, water loving chemicals and the liver handles the big fat loving chemicals. Part of the liver’s job is to get rid of large molecules that can’t be broken down well into bile, which goes out your bowel, and another part is to, when it can, break those big molecules down into small ones which do love water and can then be handled by your kidneys.
The most common example of a molecule that starts in your liver but gets broken down there so it can dissolve in water and go out the kidney is urea, which makes your pee yellow. It is how your body gets rid of excess nitrogen from breaking down proteins.
Your liver does not “clean” your blood. It only breaks it down into constituent parts, which various body-parts use. Your kidneys do the actual cleaning, as in they remove the (now separated out) bad stuff.
The liver is a chemistry lab. It does lots of things, but one thing it does is take in blood ands breaks down stuff carried in the blood and makes it dissolve better in water (blood’s mostly water).
The kidney is a filter that blood goes through and water mixed with waste (a lot of which is stuff broken up and made easy to dissolve in water by the liver) comes out: pee, which collects in you bladder until it starts to fill up and you pee it out.
The work together.
Kidney cells have selective pumps in their membranes allowing them to transport water soluble wastes from the blood into the urine. However, they are not efficient in removing lipid (fat) soluble wastes because the fats can diffuse into the urine and from the urine back into the blood.
The liver is designed to rid the body of fat-soluble wastes. These substances are excreted into the bile and eventually move into the intestines and from there to the toilet via the feces. The liver metabolizes other lipid soluble substances making them water soluble so they can be eliminated by the kidneys.
To completely “clean” the blood you need both organs working simultaneously.
Both the liver and kidneys can metabolise compounds very effectively.
I’d argue the main difference is in their primary functions.
The liver sits on the portal vein- that is, all blood returning from the GI tract (except part of the anus) is returned to the body via the liver. This is called first pass metabolism, and it is a key feature to reduce exposure to toxins that have been ingested.
It also makes sense why the liver and associated organs play a strong role in metabolism regulation, including insulin/glycogen, bile synthesis and excretion, gluconeogensis, toxin metabolism. The liver tries to stop things getting into the blood stream that shouldn’t be there.
The kidneys however, work to other things. They, and the organs around them, secrete hormones to control blood pressure, heart rate and hydration. They also work to excrete things in the blood that got in there, but shouldn’t be there.
Accordingly, liver- high density metabolic enzymes because high loads of substrate during digestion. Kidneys- low/moderate density of metabolic enzymes because predominantly there for excretion and blood volume regulation.
Your liver does not “clean” your blood. It only breaks it down into constituent parts, which various body-parts use. Your kidneys do the actual cleaning, as in they remove the (now separated out) bad stuff.
You constantly need to remove stuff from your blood. Your liver breaks down everything above a certain size. Your kidneys filter out everything below a certain size. Your liver does this by making proteins that bond to and breakdown stuff. Your kidneys are mostly just filters with very tiny holes (called nephrons). Your kidneys and liver do other things too.
There’s actually a size in between where compounds can last for a long time in your body.
Kidney cells have selective pumps in their membranes allowing them to transport water soluble wastes from the blood into the urine. However, they are not efficient in removing lipid (fat) soluble wastes because the fats can diffuse into the urine and from the urine back into the blood.
The liver is designed to rid the body of fat-soluble wastes. These substances are excreted into the bile and eventually move into the intestines and from there to the toilet via the feces. The liver metabolizes other lipid soluble substances making them water soluble so they can be eliminated by the kidneys.
To completely “clean” the blood you need both organs working simultaneously.
Both the liver and kidneys can metabolise compounds very effectively.
I’d argue the main difference is in their primary functions.
The liver sits on the portal vein- that is, all blood returning from the GI tract (except part of the anus) is returned to the body via the liver. This is called first pass metabolism, and it is a key feature to reduce exposure to toxins that have been ingested.
It also makes sense why the liver and associated organs play a strong role in metabolism regulation, including insulin/glycogen, bile synthesis and excretion, gluconeogensis, toxin metabolism. The liver tries to stop things getting into the blood stream that shouldn’t be there.
The kidneys however, work to other things. They, and the organs around them, secrete hormones to control blood pressure, heart rate and hydration. They also work to excrete things in the blood that got in there, but shouldn’t be there.
Accordingly, liver- high density metabolic enzymes because high loads of substrate during digestion. Kidneys- low/moderate density of metabolic enzymes because predominantly there for excretion and blood volume regulation.
One metabolises compounds, ie. conversion of Codeine to Morphine, or hormone synthesis such as Cholesterol to Progesterone (liver) and the other is a filtration system for waste products ie. Urea that would otherwise build up to toxic levels within the bloodstream (kidneys). Essentially, your liver breaks compounds down, to be removed from the body via the kidneys.
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