Chapter 3: Digestion, Absorption and Metabolism Flashcards
define: metabolism
- sum of all chemical reactions in the body
- Metabolism of nutrients: cellular respiration; captures all the energy in sugars, triglycerides and amino acids into ATP
digestion
- describe 2 types
- Process that separates nutrients in food and breaks larger molecules into smaller ones
- Mechanical digestion: teeth chewing, stomach churning
- Chemical digestion: uses enzymes to alter the chemical structure of nutrients and reduces them to their building blocks
enzymes
Speed up reactions and provides location for chemical reactions to occur
hydrolysis
The input of water breaks down the molecule
condensation
Combines molecules by liberating a water molecule
hormones
Chemical messengers required for many physiological processes
sphincters
Circular muscles that contract to close openings and relaxes to open them
What are some things that impact digestive transit times. What is the average digestive time?
- Age, activity levels, diet, gender, medication, infection, emotional state
- ~2 days for food to pass through the entire tract
List all the layers of the digestive tract wall (5)
- lumen
- mucosa
- submucosa
- muscularis
- serosa
describe the following layer of the digestive tract wall: lumen and mucosa
- lumen: inner cavity of the small intestine tube
- mucosa: layer that secretes mucus, keeps digestive tract moist, and protects it from infection, plays a role in absorption
describe the following layer of the digestive tract wall: submucosa
- Submucosa: connects mucosa to the more superficial muscularis layer, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and nerves are found here
describe the following layer of the digestive tract wall: muscularis
- Muscularis: composed of smooth muscles that are autonomic; pushes food forward and helps it mix with digestive secretions
describe the following layer of the digestive tract wall: serosa
- Serosa: outermost layer that consists of a layer of connective tissue; helps to reduce friction with organs or helps anchor tract in place
explain the enteric nervous system
- Various nerves and nerve plexuses that create a system
- 500 million neurons arranged in groupings called a nerve plexeus
- all in the lining of the gastrointestinal system
mouth
- chemical digestion
- manual digestion
- define bolus
- chem. digestion: saliva - from 3 main glands (parotid, submandibular, sublingual)
- 2 enzymes: salivary amylase becomes amylose (starch); lingual lipase (lipids)
- manual digestion: tongue and teeth
- bolus: uniform cohesive structure created through chewing and saliva
pharynx
- role
- define: epiglottis
- Passageway for both food and air
- Epiglottis; flap of tissue that covers trachea opening when we swallow so food goes down the esophagus
esophagus
- role
- Passageway for food from pharynx to stomach; Food enters stomach with the lower esophageal sphincter opens
how does food move through the digestive tract?
- Peristalsis: smooth muscle contractions to move bolus further through the digestion tract
- Gravity helps too
- NOT segmentation
stomach
- how long does food remain in the stomach
- what is chemically digested here
- mechanical digestion
- types of muscle (3)
- define chyme
- pyloric sphincter
- crypts
- 4-5 hours before it empties
- chemical digestion of protein begins; Partial absorption of water and amino acids occur here
- mechanical digestion: diagonal smooth muscle allows for churning to facilitate chemical digestion
- types of muscle: longitudinal, circular, diagonal
- chyme: bolus turns into semiliquid substance
- pyloric sphincter: opens to let chyme enter the small intestine
- crypts: invaginations in the stomach that increase surface area, allowing more stomach cells to be involved in digestion
gastric juices (4)
- Mucus: lubrication and a medium for chemical reactions to occur in; lines the stomach’s inner wall protecting it from stomach acid and juices
- Hydrochloric acid (HCl): unravels proteins, exposing sites where enzymes can further break them down; plays a role in activating pepsin
- Pepsinogen: proenzyme; HCl converts pepsinogen into pepsin; Pepsin: breaks down amino acid chains into smaller chains
- Gastric lipase: breaks down lipids
small intestine
- describe the structure
- villi
- microvilli
- enterocytes
- capillary beds
- lacteal
- peristalsis and segmentation
structure
- 6m in length
- duodenum, jejunum, ileum
- large folds that face the lumen (increase SA and slow the passage of food along its path)
- villi
- microvilli: tiny projections in the enterocytes; make up the brush border; where digestive enzymes are stored (lactase, sucrase, maltase)
- enterocytes: small intestine cells that line the peaks and valleys of the villus surface
- Capillary beds exist within the submucosa of the villi; all nutrients are absorbed here except for large lipids and fat soluble vitamins
- Lacteal: lymphatic vessels that absorb large lipids and fat soluble vitamins; enter the blood by draining through the thoracic duct
- segmentation: movement that breaks material into smaller components while mixing it with digestive juices
absorption in the small intestine
- osmosis
- simple diffusion
- facilitated diffusion
- active transportation
- Osmosis: movement of water in response to concentration differences
- Simple diffusion: fatty acids and fat soluble vitamins; absorbed along the spaces between phospholipids in the enterocyte cell membrane; do not require a transporter
- Facilitated diffusion: a protein transporter acts as tunnels to allow material to pass from an area of high concentration to low concentration; Certain sugars require this (fructose)
- Active transportation: glucose and amino acids move from an area of low concentration to high concentration; requires energy and a protein transporter to move against the concentration grain
List the accessory organs
- pancreas
- gallbladder
- liver
pancreas
- 2 functions
- list the enzymes (4)
- Regulates blood glucose using hormones (endocrine function)
- Insulin: when glucose rises tells body to store sugar
- Glucagon: tells liver to release stored sugar when glucose drops
- Releases pancreatic juices (exocrine function) that contain digestive enzymes into the small intestine
- Protease: protein digestion
- Lipase: lipid digestion
- Amylase: carbohydrate digestion
- Bicarbonate: buffer that reduces acidity of chyme, increasing the effectiveness of digestion in small intestine