Next to the heart, the liver is believed to be the second most important organ within the body. It has been calculated by some medical researchers to be capable of performing about 500 different functions, too numerous, of course, to mention here. Some of the ancient cultures in the Old World believed that the liver was the center for most human emotions. The jury is still out on this one and no verdict has yet been reached as to whether this idea is scientifically conclusive. Nonetheless, the prospect of the liver’s own state of health determining how we feel emotionally, remains an intriguing one at best.
Alternative health writers and practitioners usually include the liver with the colon when they speak of detoxifying the system or preventing the occurrence of disease therein. Dandelion root and an extract from milk thistle seed (called silymarin) are two of the best recognized botanical agents for cleansing or protecting this particular body organ. But what if instead of these, there was an herb that could accomplish both objectives through proper regulation of immune system functions.
Well, there is, in fact, such a plant that has been widely employed for this very thing Picrorhiza kurroa is one of the most important bitters in Indian pharmacopoeia and exerts an amazing tonifying effect on troubled livers and disturbed digestive tracts. One medical study reported that it has been included with other herbal therapy for the treatment of acute viral hepatitis and jaundice with good success. And by itself the root has been a popular remedy for bronchial asthma; its efficacy for this particular problem, by the way, has been clinically verified in a report that appeared awhile back in The Bombay Hospital Journal (Vol. 24, No. 2, 1982).
Researchers then looked at the liver more closely and hypothesized that it was somehow linked to immunological functions. Hence, they reasoned, if an extract of the root and rhizome of the plant, P. kurroa were routinely administered, then the health of the liver would substantially improve; in turn, this would lead to greater harmony for the immune system itself.
THE ROLE OF THE LIVER IN THE BODY
The liver is the largest gland in the body that regulates metabolism. This organ is anatomically located under the diaphragm, a muscular membrane-like structure that separates the liver from the base of the right lung. The liver projects as a triangle shape into the right upper abdominal region. Like the spleen, which is opposite to its location in the body, the liver is protected by the ribcage. The importance of this organ to the body is paramount, and while a person can live without a spleen or have one kidney dysfunctional or surgically removed, a properly functioning liver is essential to sustain the life and health of an individual.
The liver has many roles, some of which include the formation and secretion of bile – so important in digestion, maintaining ready supply of nutrients to the body like carbohydrates and lipids, the manufacturing of plasma proteins, activation of certain vitamins, activation and inactivation of body hormones and detoxification of many drugs as well as chemical and biological toxins (bacteria, viruses, parasites) that enter our body daily with air, water and food. The organization and structure of the liver, and its strategic location in the two largest body systems – blood circulation and the digestive tract, corresponds to this organs key role in nutrition, metabolism and protection of the body against harmful internal and external substances.
The location of the liver in the blood circulation system is unique. Blood that carries nutrients and other absorbed elements from the gut and pancreas, an important organ regulating carbohydrate availability to the body, first passes through the liver before entering into general circulation. Blood is carried to the liver by a large vein called the portal vein. This name was derived from the Latin “portas,” or gate, which signifies the role the portal vein plays in introducing the absorbed nutritional load to the organism. Due to this particular blood supply to the liver, absorbed nutrients like carbohydrates, lipids and most amino acids, are metabolized, stored, or routed to other tissues, based on a demand and supply principle, from the metabolic command center: the liver. This way the liver regulates and, if necessary, smoothes out potentially broad variations in the bioavailability of nutrients to various tissues in the body.
The next important aspect of its anatomical positioning is that the pool of blood with the “raw” nutritional content passes through the liver to be purified of many toxins. These toxins are detoxified by liver enzymes or even eliminated by liver cells prior to the blood being carried to other body tissues. This unique role of the liver in “purifying” the blood has been described as a “first pass” effect – a reference to the blood first being passed through the liver, which literally acts as a biological filter. Thus, a properly functioning liver serves the body as a guard, safeguarding the emergency and routine nutrient supply by insuring the safety of that supply to various tissues. This role is scientifically known as maintaining body homeostasis.
The liver is built of tightly packed cells, hepatocytes, each of them acting as a very sophisticated manufacturing facility. The output of each manufacturing facility depends primarily on the supply of the building materials provided from the portal vein. Bile is one of the most important outcomes of the manufacturing capabilities of the liver cells: the by-products of body metabolism are removed with bile to the gastrointestinal tract.
One of the most significant components of bile are bile salts. Bile salts, together with other components of bile, are carried through the biliary system until they emerge from the liver through the bile duct which opens up to the upper gastro-intestinal tract. Just before opening to the gut, the bile duct forms a pouch, which serves as a bile reservoir, and is known as the gallbladder.
The production and secretion of bile is the single most important function of the liver and its biliary tract, and any disease processes affecting the liver will most likely affect bile production and its secretion. For example, when bile is not manufactured by the liver, as in the case of a viral infection of the liver cells, digestion and absorption of fat dramatically decreases and, as a result, as much as 25% of the undigested fat may appear in the stool. The absorption of fat soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E, K and beta carotenes, is also severely compromised. Because the virus-infected “manufacturing facility” cannot take the usual load of “manufacturing” material carried with the portal blood, this load bypasses the liver and directly ends up in various tissues. This abnormality, if not remedied, will result in multiple toxic effects.
A virus-infected “manufacturing facility” can not provide the bile and its component bilirubin, which is one of the bile pigments responsible for the golden yellow color of bile. As a result, when bilirubin is not taken up by the liver and accumulates in the blood, the skin, the eyes and mucous membranes turn yellow. The accumulation of bilirubin and the subsequent jaundice are the most visible signs of an impediment in bile production or its flow. However, there are many less clinically obvious substances accumulating in the blood if they are not secreted with bile. Most notably some enzymes like alkaline phosphatase, an important blood marker of the liver function.
Damaged liver cells release various enzymes into the blood stream from injured or dying cells. These enzymes, called transaminases, in a healthy liver cell participate in its “manufacturing” activities; specifically glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT). Another important liver function enzyme is lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) which participates in the processes that generate energy in the liver.
Although the GPT, GOT and LDH enzymes are present in many other tissues in the body, their order of appearance, and their overall blood levels are very important in monitoring liver diseases. For example, the increase in blood levels of both GOT and GPT indicates possible damage to the liver. On the other hand, a rise in GOT accompanied by a slight rise in GPT suggests damage to the heart muscle, skeletal muscle, or kidneys. In acute viral hepatitis B the order of enzyme elevation in the blood is likely to be GPT, GOT and LDH, while in liver injury due to chemical poisoning, e.g. carbon tetrachloride, the enzymes may be elevated in the reversed order i.e. LDH, GOT and GPT.
The hepatoprotective activity of Picrolivâ has been investigated with aflatoxin B1 (a toxin produced by the fungus Aspergillus parasiticus, which causes injury to the liver) which was followed by oral administration of Picroliv for seven days. After 144 hours from the time of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) administration, the blood levels of enzymes GPT, GOT and alkaline phosphatase were significantly higher (p<0.01) in the group receiving AFB1 alone as compared to the Picroliv treated group. Also blood bilirubin was at significantly higher levels (p<0.01) in the untreated group as compared to the Picroliv treated group. Microscopic evaluation of liver tissues from the treated and untreated groups showed that Picroliv prevented many degenerative changes characteristic of liver cells resulting from administration of AFB1.
