Liver, Gallbladder and Pancreas

In practice

Take them one at a time. First, the liver is the largest gland in the body, about three pounds in an adult; it makes bile, and it is highly vascular. Second, the gallbladder is a small sac nested under the right lobe of the liver; bile is diverted into it, where it is concentrated and stored until a meal. Third, the pancreas lies behind the stomach, in the retroperitoneum, with its head inside the curve of the duodenum; it is both exocrine, secreting digestive enzymes, and endocrine, releasing hormones into the blood.