Anatomy Flashcards
basic anatomy of the digestive tract
mouth esophagus stomach small intestine large intestine rectum anus
where does digestion begin?
in the mouth with alpha amylase in the saliva- breaks down starch into polysaccharides.
what is chewed food called?
bolus! : pushed into the esophagus by swallowing and then moved down the esophagus via peristaltic action.
does digestion occur in the esophogous?
no
how is chyme made?
stomach mixes and stores food reducing it to a semifluid mass called chyme .
important function of the stomach is to start protein digestion with the enzyme pepsin.
what are the four major cell types in the stomach?
- mucous cells
- chief (peptic cells)
- parietal cells
- G cells.
what do the mucous cells do?
line the stomach wall , lubricate the stomach walll so that food can slide along its surface without causing damage and mucous protects the epithelial lining from the acidic env of the stomach.
what do the chief cells do?
are found deep in the exocrine glands. they secrete pepsinogen , which is a zymogen precursor to pepsin. pepsinogen is activated to pepsin by the low pH of the stomach . once activated pepsin begins protein digestion
what do the parietal cells do?
secrete HCL
they also secret intrinsic factor which helps the ileum absorb B12
What do the G cells do?
secret gastrin. gastrin is a peptide hormone which stimulates parietal cells to secrete HCL.
what are the major hormones that affect the secretion of the stomach juices?
acetylcholine- increases the secretion of all cell types
gastrin
histamine
gastrin and histamine mainly increase HCL secretion.
about 90% of the digestion and the absorption occurs in the ?
small intestine.
the SI is divided into 3 parts , from smallest to largest : duodenum, jejunum and ileum.
most of the digestion occurs in which part of the SI?
duodenum
where does most of the absorption occur?
jejunum and ileum.
the SI wall has finger like projections called villi
villi inc the SA allowing for greater digestion and abs .
on the apical surface (lumen side) surface of the cells of each villus are much smaller finger like projections called microvilli
the microvilli inc the SA of the intestinal wall still further.
under the microscope the microvilli appear as a fuzzy covering which is called the brush border. the brush border has membrane bound digestive enzymes.
goblet cells in the intestine are epithelial cells
they secrete mucus to lubricate the intestine and help protect the brush border from mechanical and chemical damage.
the semifluid chyme is squeezed out of the stomach thru the pyloric spinster and into the duodenum. the fluid inside the duodenum has a pH of 6 mainly due to bicarb ion secreted by the pancreas.
pancreas also acts as an exocrine gland releasing enzymes through the pancreatic duct into the duodenum
the major enzymes released by the pancreas are:
trypsin chymotrypsin pancreatic amylase lipase ribunuclease deoxyribonuclease all enzymes are released as zymogens . trypsin is activated by the enzyme enterokinase located in the brush border. activated trypsin then activates other enzymes