The liver receives blood from 2 sources. It receives oxygenated blood from the hepatic artery and from the hepatic portal vein it receives deoxygenated blood containing newly absorbed nutrients, drugs and possibly microbes and toxins from the gastrointestinal tract. The blood from the hepatic artery and hepatic portal vein are carried into the liver sinusoids, where oxygen, nutrients and some toxic substances are taken up by hepatocytes. The hepatocytes secrete products they manufacture as well as nutrients important to cell functions back into the blood, which drains into the central vein and eventually passes into the hepatic vein. Blood from the hepatic vein passes into the inferior vena cava, which then drains into the right atrium of the heart.