The Liver & It's Detoxification Process

The Liver.

The liver is one of the four major organs that eliminate toxins from the body. The other three organs involved are the kidneys, intestinal tract and skin. The liver detoxifies harmful substances whether they come from internal sources such as burning sugars, fats, protein, or from external sources like medications, drugs, hormone enhancers, food additives, preservatives, food colourings, sweeteners, flavour enhancers, chemicals used in agriculture, alcohols, volatile organic compounds, fumes, air pollution and many other factors. Many of the toxins that enter the body are fat soluble which means they dissolve only in fatty or oily solutions and not it water. They all must travel through the body and the first step in the detoxification process they will encounter is the liver. The liver has to convert fat soluble toxins into water soluble substances that can be excreted from the body.

Detoxification process:

The liver plays several roles in detoxification: it filters the blood to remove large toxins, synthesises and gets rid of bile full of cholesterol and other fat-soluble toxins, and the live enzymatically eliminates unwanted chemicals. The enzymatic process to dispose of toxins occurs in two phases: phase 1 (Oxidations) and phase 2 (Conjugation).

Phase 1 neutralizes the toxin or changes the toxic chemical to form activated intermediates which will then be neutralized by phase 2 of the enzyme system. This pathway converts a toxic chemical into a less harmful chemical and is achieved by oxidation, reduction and hydrolysis reactions. During this process, free radicals are produced and if there are too many it can damage the liver cells. With the help of antioxidant, it reduces the damage caused by free radicals. One important antioxidant for neutralizing the free radicals produced in phase 1 is glutathione (GHS) is oxidized to glutathione disulfide (GSSG). This antioxidant is required for one of the key phase 2 processes. When so many free radicals are produced from phase 1, the glutathione stops producing oxidative stress or liver damage. The toxins are then transformed into activated intermediates; therefore the rate at which phase 1 produces activated intermediates must be balanced by the rate at which phase 2 finishes their processing. Phase 2 is called the conjugation pathway because the liver cells add another substance such as cysteine, glycine, or a sulphur molecule to a toxic chemical to make it less harmful. As a result it makes the toxin water-soluble so that it may then be excreted from the body via watery fluids such as bile or urine. There are six phase 2 detoxification pathways:

1. Glutathione conjugation
2. Amino acid conjugation
3. Sulfation
4. Acetylation
5. Glucuronidation

These conjugation molecules join with specific enzymes to catalyze the reaction process. The liver is then able to turn drugs, hormones, and other various toxins into substances that are secreted from the body.