<P> Blood flows through the liver sinusoids and empties into the central vein of each lobule . The central veins coalesce into hepatic veins, which leave the liver and drain into the inferior vena cava . </P> <P> The biliary tract is derived from the branches of the bile ducts . The biliary tract, also known as the biliary tree, is the path by which bile is secreted by the liver then transported to the first part of the small intestine, the duodenum . The bile produced in the liver is collected in bile canaliculi, small grooves between the faces of adjacent hepatocytes . The canaliculi radiate to the edge of the liver lobule, where they merge to form bile ducts . Within the liver, these ducts are termed intrahepatic bile ducts, and once they exit the liver, they are considered extrahepatic . The intrahepatic ducts eventually drain into the right and left hepatic ducts, which exit the liver at the transverse fissure, and merge to form the common hepatic duct . The cystic duct from the gallbladder joins with the common hepatic duct to form the common bile duct . </P> <P> Bile either drains directly into the duodenum via the common bile duct, or is temporarily stored in the gallbladder via the cystic duct . The common bile duct and the pancreatic duct enter the second part of the duodenum together at the hepatopancreatic ampulla, also known as the ampulla of Vater . </P> <P> The liver plays a major role in carbohydrate, protein, amino acid, and lipid metabolism . </P>

Which of the following is a function of the vertebrate liver