| | | The liver is made up of a large number of functional units called lobules. Each lobule has an approximately hexagonal shape when sectioned, and consists of radially-arranged partitions of hepatic cells with sinusoids between them. Blood passes through the sinusoids from clusters of vessels around the periphery and is collected into the central vein of the lobule. The hepatic cells make bile which is channelled out to bile ducts accompanying the clusters of blood vessels peripherally. So each peripheral cluster contains a branch of the hepatic artery, a branch of the portal vein, and a small bile duct, and is referred to as a portal triad. | 
|  medium-power view
of a hepatic lobule |  higher-power view
of the central vein |  Higher-power view of
the hepatic sinusoids |
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