hepatocyte
Meaning of hepatocyte: A hepatocyte is the main parenchymal cell of the liver and carries out many of the organ’s metabolic, synthetic, and detoxifying functions.
Definition of hepatocyte
A hepatocyte is a specialized epithelial cell that makes up most of the liver’s tissue mass. Hepatocytes process carbohydrates, fats, proteins, medicines, and toxins; synthesize albumin and many clotting proteins; and produce and secrete bile components. Their arrangement within liver lobules helps connect blood processing with bile flow.
How hepatocyte is built
- hepat/o Combining form · Greek liver
- -cyte Suffix · Greek cell
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The biopsy showed hepatocyte injury around the central vein.
Good to know
Damage to hepatocytes can release intracellular enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase into the blood, but laboratory results must be interpreted with other clinical findings.
Word origin
Where “hepatocyte” comes from
Built from hepato-, meaning “liver,” and -cyte, meaning “cell.”