Geschichte der Forschungen über die Leber und ihre Krankheiten (Teil 2).

In classical antiquity, liver and bile were connected with soul, mythology and the four humors (vital fluids). The Middle Ages comprised research of anatomy and simple clinical observations complemented in the 19th century by cytology. Liver-specific diagnostics was based on enzymology, function tests and prognosis criteria. In the 20th/21st century, the causes of many phenotypically known diseases are explained by biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]