Portal triad in a pig's liver (400X)

Portal triad in a pig's liver. Image copyright: University of Oslo, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. (Tissue stain: H+E).

Glisson's triad is another term for a portal triad. A triad consists of an end branch of each of the a. Hepatica, v. Porta and ductus choledochus. The portal triads are seen in the corner between three liver lobules. There are usually several arteries, veins and bile ducts in the same area. Remember that these vessels branch out and run along the connective tissue pathways between the liver lobules.

Main structures seen in this image:

bile ducts with cuboidal epithelium
arteriole (a branch of the arteria hepatica)
hepatocytes (large round nuclei)
veins containing erythrocytes

Published December 2nd 2018, updated September 27th 2021.