الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The liver is the largest organ of the human body, approximately weighing 1500 g and is located in the upper right corner of the abdomen. The liver is closely connected with the small intestine, processing the nutrient-enriched venous blood that leaves the digestive canal. The liver accomplishes over 500 metabolic functions, including glycogen storage, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification (van der Plaats et al., 2006; Opoku et al., 2007). It is continually and variedly exposed to xenobiotics, environmental pollutants, and chemotherapeutic agents because of its strategic placement in the body which lead to liver injury (Ibrahim et al., 2008). Worldwide, the most common risk factors of liver inflammation are viruses or alcoholism. Viral hepatitis comes in several forms, the most common being hepatitis virous B (HVB) (40%), hepatitis virous A(HVA) (32%), and hepatitis virous C (HVC). HVB and HVC are spread by the blood, can lead to the development of chronic liver disease that can lead to liver fibrosis and finally to liver cirrhosis (Gutierrez-Reyes et al., 2007). chronic liver injury may advance into several liver diseases, including hepatic steatosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (Srivastava and Shivanandappa, 2010; Al-Sayed et al., 2014). Liver fibrosis is a process occurs due to the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins including collagen that happens in most types of chronic liver diseases. The accumulation of ECM proteins alters the hepatic architecture by forming a fibrous scar and following by development of nodules of regenerating hepatocytes define as cirrhosis, which is characterized by alteration of the liver vasculature and architecture, and which is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with liver disease, predisposing to liver failure and primary liver cancer (Friedman, 2003; Bataller and Brenner, 2005). Activated hepatic stellate cell (HSC), in liver injury, it becomes a transitional cell or myofibroblast-like cell capable of synthesizing collagen types I, III and IV as well as laminin. Stellate cells are located within the space of Disse (Albanis and Friedman, 2001; Lefkowitch, 2021). |