Activities of the Alimentary Canal

Question 1

What are the 4 activities of the alimentary canal?

Answer 1

Motility
Secretion
Digestion
Absorption

Question 2

What is the mechanical activity mostly involving smooth muscle?

Answer 2

motility

Question 3

What occurs in the lumen of the digestive tract in response to the presence of food, hormonal and neural signals?

Answer 3

secretion

Question 4

What is secretion required for?

Answer 4

digestion, protection and lubrication

Question 5

What is the chemical breakdown of complex foodstuffs to smaller, absorbable units?

Answer 5

digestion

Question 6

How are complex foodstuffs broken down in digestion?

Answer 6

enzymatic hydrolysis

Question 7

Where does physical digestion occur?

Answer 7

mouth, small intestine and stomach

Question 8

What is the transfer of the absorbable products of digestion from the digestive tract to the blood or lymph?

Answer 8

absorption

Question 9

What are the main general layers of the digestive tract wall?

Answer 9

mucosa
submucosa
muscularis externa
serosa

Question 10

Which cells would you find in the mucosa of the digestive tract wall?

Answer 10

epithelial cells
exocrine cells
endocrine gland cells
lamina propria 
muscularis mucosae

Question 11

What makes up the submucosa of the digestive tract?

Answer 11

CT
larger blood and lymph vessels
glands
nerve network (sub mucous plexus)

Question 12

What makes up the muscular externa?

Answer 12

circular muscle layer
nerve network (myenteric plexus)
longitudinal muscle layer

Question 13

What is the serosa composed of?

Answer 13

connective tissue

Question 14

What happens when circular muscle contracts?

Answer 14

narrower and longer lumen

Question 15

what happens when longitudinal muscle contracts?

Answer 15

shorter and fatter intestine

Question 16

What happens when the muscularis mucosae contracts?

Answer 16

change in absorptive and secretory area of mucosa (folding), mixing activity