THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BILATERALITY OF THE PORTAL CIRCULATION

Abstract

By the use of phosphoric acid tagged with the radioactive isotope it is shown that when the material is injected into the splenic vein there is a decidedly greater conc. of the tagged P in the left side of the liver than in the right side within about 3 secs. of the inj. time. In contrast, when the same material is injected into a branch of the mesenteric vein there is a markedly greater accumulation of the labelled material in the right side of the liver. When it is injected into the jugular vein and sufficient time allowed for complete mixing with the circulating blood there are no demonstrable differences in the conc. of the tagged material in various transverse sections taken from the liver. There is evidently a physiological bilaterality of flow of blood in the portal vein which is streamline in nature and by which the splenic blood is largely sent to the left side, and the mesenteric blood to the right side of the liver.