Arrange the terms in each group in the correct order. Write them in a logical sequence beginning with the term that is underlined.
Hepatic portal vein, STOMACH, Hepatic vein, Liver. (Begin with: Stomach)
Topic: Hepatic portal system
Answer
Stomach → Hepatic portal vein → Liver → Hepatic vein
This traces the HEPATIC PORTAL SYSTEM, which is unusual and therefore examined often.
Blood leaves the STOMACH and intestines carrying absorbed food, travels along the HEPATIC PORTAL VEIN to the LIVER, and leaves the liver by the HEPATIC VEIN to rejoin the main circulation.
WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL: a vein normally carries blood straight back to the heart. The hepatic portal vein instead begins in one set of capillaries (in the gut wall) and ends in another (in the liver) — it connects two capillary beds without passing through the heart between them. That is what a PORTAL vein means.
WHY IT EXISTS: all absorbed food is taken to the liver FIRST, so that excess glucose can be stored as glycogen and any toxins detoxified before the blood reaches the rest of the body.
Tell the two vessels apart by their names: portal = to the liver, hepatic vein = from the liver.