Adaptations for nutrition Flashcards
What type of nutrition do protoctists (such as the amoeba) use?
Holozoic nutrition
why do protoctists have a large SA:VOL?
they are single celled
How do protoctists obtain nutrients such as oxygen and glucose?
The cell membrane via diffusion, facilitated diffusion and active transport
How do protoctists take in large food molecules and what are they surrounded by to form?
They take in large food molecules such as bacteria and microscopic algae via endocytosis. The food molecules are surrounded by membranes, forming vacuoles.
What do the food vacuoles then do?
-The food vacuoles fuse with lysosomes containing hydrolytic enzymes which digest the contents of the food vacuoles. The products of digestion are then absorbed into the cell cytoplasm.
-Indigestible remains are egested by exocytosis.
What are the stages of digestion?
Ingestion
Digestion
Absorption
Assimilation
Egestion
What are Hydra?
Multicellular freshwater animals
What are hydra the same phylum as?
Jellyfish
What’s a hydra shaped like?
-Cylindrical shape
-Tentacles at the top of the body, which contains stinging cells
what type of digestive system do hydra have?
An undifferentiated digestive system
What is the process of nutrition in hydra?
-Their tentacles move paralysed prey in through the mouth and into the sac-like hollow body cavity where the prey digested
-The products of digestion are absorbed into body cells and indigestible remains are adjusted through the mouth- they therefore have only a single opening in their digestive system
What is a tube gut?
Most animals have a distinct anterior and posterior end, and a digestive system that is a tube with two openings.
Where is food ingested and where is indigestible waste egested? (Animals)
Food is ingested at the mouth and indigestible waste is egested at the anus.
Why must food be digested in humans?
-Food molecules are insoluble and are too large to cross membranes and be absorbed into the bloodstream.
-polymers must be converted to the monomers, so they can be rebuilt (assimilated) in molecules needed by body cells
What are the four main functions of the human gut performs?
-ingestion
-Digestion (mechanical and chemical)
-Absorption
-egestion
What is ingestion?
taking food into the body through the mouth
What is digestion?
the breakdown of large insoluble molecules into soluble molecules that are then small enough to be absorbed into the blood
What is mechanical digestion and what does it do?
cutting and crushing by teeth
-muscle contractions of the gut wall
-increases the surface area over which enzymes can act
What is chemical digestion?
-Breakdown using digestive enzymes. -Bile and stomach acid also contribute to this
What is absorption?
the passage of small soluble molecules and ions through the gut wall into the blood.
What is egestion?
the elmination of indigestible waste e.g. cellulose (dietary fibre).
Where does digestion and absorption occur?
In the gut
what is the gut?
-Long, hollow, muscular tube that allows movement of its contents in one direction only
-each section is specialised and forms particular steps in the process of mechanical and chemical digestion, and absorption
What is food propelled along the gut by?
Peristalsis
what is peristalsis?
-The wave of muscular contractions and relaxations of the gut wall, which propel the contents along the whole length of the gut.
-Circular muscles contract behind the bolus of food and then relax after the wave contraction has passed
what aids peristalsis in the intestines?
Dietary fibre
What is the process of peristalsis?
-contraction of circular muscles behind food
-Contraction of longitudinal muscles ahead of food
-Contraction in circular muscle layer, forces food forward
What are the parts of the digestive system?
-Mouth (Buccal Cavity)
-oesophagus
-Stomach
-Duodenum
-Ileum
-Colon
Rectum
-Anus
What is the function of the mouth?
-Ingestion.
-Mechanical digestion of food due to crushing action of the teeth.
-Chemical digestion of starch by salivary amylase.
what is the function of the oesophagus?
Carriage of food to the stomach by peristalsis.
What is the function of the stomach (in digestion)
-Contraction of stomach muscles to churn up the food - mechanical digestion.
-Secretion of hydrochloric acid.
-Chemical digestion of proteins by enzymes.
what is the function of the duodenum?
Receives pancreatic juice from the pancreas and bile from the gall bladder.
Chemical digestion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins by enzymes.
what is the function of the ileum?
-Chemical digestion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins by enzymes
-Absorption of digestive food
what is the function of the colon?
Absorption of water
What is the function of the rectum?
Storage of faeces
What is the function of the anus?
Site egestion
What happens to the thickness of the layers in the mammalian gut walls in different regions of the digestive system?
The thickness of these layers vary
What are the tissue layers that the mammalian gut wall consists of?
-Serosa
-Muscularis
-Submucosa
-Mucosa
what is the serosa?
-outermost layer
-contains connective tissue which protects the gut wall
-helps to reduce friction (reduce heat and slowing down of food) with other abdominal organs during peristalsis
what are the muscularis composed of and what di they do
-composed of two layers;
the inner circular muscles and the outer longitudinal muscles.
-They make coordinated waves of contraction (peristalsis), pushing the ball (bolus) of food along the alimentary canal.
What is the submucosa?
-consists of connective tissue containing blood and lymph vessels which remove the absorbed products of digestion.
-This layer also contains the nerves which coordinate peristalsis.
what is the mucosa?
-lines the gut wall and is the inner most layer.
-The epithelium secretes mucus which lubricates and protects the mucosa.
-In some regions of the gut, it secretes digestive juices and in others, it absorbs digested food.
What are carbohydrates hydrolysed by?
-Starch to maltose via amylase
-Maltose to alpha glucose by maltase
-Lactose to glucose and galactose by lactase
-Sucrose to glucose and fructose sucrase
why should larger molecules be digested into smaller?
so they can be absorbed by gut epithelial cells
What do endopeptidases do?
hydrolyse peptide bonds within the molecule- e.g. pepsin and trypsin
what do exopeptidases do?
Hydrolyse peptide bonds at the end of the shorter polypeptide chains to make amino acids/dipeptides
What are proteins broken down to?
Dipeptides to amino acids
What are fat hydrolysed by and what are the products?
lipase and the products of fatty acids and glycerol
what happens at in the buccal cavity?
-mechanical digestion occurs here
-Food is mixed with saliva by the tongue and chewed with the teeth
what does food being chewed with teeth mean? (buccal cavity)
This increases a surface area for the food enzymes to work on
what is saliva?
A watery secretion containing:
-amylase (turns starch to maltose)
-Bicarbonate ions which create an optimum pH (slightly alkaline) for amylase
-Mucus which lubricates the food
what does the oesophagus do in the digestive system?
It has no role in digestive, but connects the buccal cavity to the stomach
What does the stomach do in digestion?
-bolus of food enters the stomach and is kept there by the contraction of sphincter muscles.
- swallowed food can remain inside the stomach for several hours. -stomach wall muscles contract rhythmically to churn the food with gastric juice secreted from gastric glands in the mucosa of the stomach wall.
What does gastric juice contain?
-mucus
-hcl
-pepsin
what does mucus do in the stomach? (gastric juice)
(secreted by goblet cells which line the mucosa).
-forms a protective lining which protects the stomach wall from digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid, and helps to lubricate the food.
what does Hydrochloric acid do in the stomach? (gastric juice)
It lowers the pH of the stomach contents to pH2 to create an optimum environment for enzymes and kills bacteria.
What does pepsin do in the stomach? (gastric juice)
(secreted as inactive pepsinogen).
-This is a peptidase that works optimally in the acidic environment of the stomach.
-Activation of pepsinogen by hydrochloric acid (HCI) forms active pepsin.
Why are enzymes secreted in an inactive form?
as the active form would digestive cells of the stomach wall (auto lysis)
what does the small intestine consist of?
-to regions the duodenum and ileum
what does the relaxation of the sphincter muscles at the base of the stomach do?
-releases the partially digested food (chyme) into the duodenum a little at a time
What is the duodenum?
-the first section of the small intestine and receives secretions from the liver and pancreas.
-food coming from stomach is lubricated by mucus and the hydrochloric acid is neutralised by alkaline secretions (NaCO,) from cells in the sub mucosa