CM- Approach to Intestinal Disease Flashcards
What cells make up the villi of all three regions of the small intestine?
- Goblet cells - secrete mucin to make mucus
- enterocytes- microvilli to absorb/digest
- APUD cells- (endocrine cells)
The epithelium is simple columnar epithelium
What runs in the opposite direction to the villi of the small intestines? What cells make this up?
The Crypts of Lieberkuhn made of simple columnar and regenerative cells.
Paneth cells are basal crypt cells that secrete lysozyme granules
Describe the difference between the fed and fasting motility of the small intestine.
- Fed- segmentation with non-propogated focal contractions simultaneously at multiple levels (4-6hours post meal)
- Fasting- MMC (migratory motor complex)
- Phase1= motor inactivity (15-30min)
- Phase 2 = intermittent, phasic, non-propagating
- Phase 3 = intense contractions
How are carbohydrates absorbed from the intestine?
Enterocytes can only absorb monosaccharides.
- Starch is broken down by salivary and pancreatic amylase to oligosaccharides.
- oligo [maltose, trehalose, lactose, sucrose] get broken down by microvillus enzymes into glucose, galactose, and fructose.
Glucose and galactose have a sodium co-transporter into the enterocyte. Fructose diffuses across the apical membrane.
Sugar enters the lamina propria into the capillary plexus and feeds to the portal vein
Describe the process by which proteins are digested,
- Acidic stomach converts pepsinogen to pepsin which cleaves peptide bonds –> polypeptides
- Alkaline duodenum inactivates pepsin
- Enterokinase/enteropeptidase found in the brush border cleave trypsinogen to trypsin which activates the other pancreatic proteases [typsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, carboxypeptidase A&B]
- Polypeptides –> oligopeptides or single AA
- oligopeptides are broken down further by endopeptidases and exopeptidases in the microvilli of enterocytes then enter cell via active transport
- AA enter cell via cotransport with sodium
- Protein enters circulation via diffusion through basolateral membrane down the conc gradient AND via symporter/transporters
What are the 4 major organs involved in fat absorption?
- Stomach
- Pancreas
- Intestines
- Liver
Where does fat digestion start? What occurs in this organ?
Fat digestion begins in the stomach where:
- gastric lipase hyprolyzes triglycerides into diglycerides and FA
- Forceful contractions and lipolysis turn fat into a fine emulsion of fat droplets anchored with phospholipids
After fat is emulsified in the stomach into fat droplets anchored with phospholipids, what is the next step in fat absorption?
- Pancreatic lipase (with colipase @ pH 6) hydrolyzes the emulsion into FA and monoglycerides in the intestinal lumen.
- pancreatic esterases hydrolyze FA ester bonds of cholesterol and fat-soluble vitamins in the presence of bile salt
- Bile acids form mixed micelles with the FA, monoglycerides and cholesterol
After pancreatic lipase made FA and monoglycerides and pancreatic esterases made mixed micelles, what is the next step of fat digestion?
FA, cholesterol and monoglycerides in micelles enter the enterocyte by passive diffusion.
A surface protein on the enterocyte facilitates the uptake of LCFAs.
In the cell LCFA and cholesterol are taken to the ER for further processing.
FASTING: form TAG in RER
FED: form TAG in SER
Cholesterol is re-esterified by acyl-CoA(cholesterol acyltransferase)
In the enterocyte, cholesterol is re-esterified and triglycerides and licithin are resynthesized. What happens next?
The cholesterol ester, TAG and lecithin join with apolipoproteins are are transported out of the cell.
Where are bile salts reabsorbed?
90% are reabsorbed in the terminal ileum to reenter portal circulation where they are extracted by the liver and re-secreted in bile.
What are the best tests for a patient with malabsorption and why?
- ferritin - iron stores
- RBC folate
- B12
- Prothrombin time (dependent on vit. K which is a fat soluble vitamin)
What are the 2 forms iron is found in?
Where are they both absorbed?
What is used to measure the efficiency of iron absorption?
- Heme iron from meat- duodenum, prox. jejunum [more efficient]
- non-heme iron from vegetables (ingested as ferric, converted to ferrous by stomach acid so that it can be absorbed)– duodenum
Duodenal enterocytes have high affinity for Fe.
Ferritin is iron stores in tissue. Circulating serum ferritin is an estimate of body stores and indirectly duodenal absorption
Where is folate primarily absorbed?
What is folate important for?
How is it measured?
Folate is in fruits and green vegetables. It is absorbed in the jejunum.
Folate –> tetrahydrofolate–> synthesis of nucleic acid/protein precursors
Folate and RBC folate are both used. RBC is better, but used less
Where are vit ADEK absorbed?
They are absorbed in the jejunum like dietary lipids. They are absorbed passively as chylomicrons and enter lymphatics.
What is vit A necessary for?
What do deficiencies cause?
It is necessary for cell growth and differentiation as well as rhodopsin (visual pigment).
Deficiency leads to xerophthalmia and night blindness.
What is vit D necessary for?
What do deficiencies cause?
It is necessary for calcium absorption by the small intestine.
Deficiency leads to osteomalacia, rickets, and delays in bone mineralization
What is vit E used for ?
What do deficiencies cause?
It is used in cell membranes and is an antioxidant (esp. in neuronal tissue)
Deficiency = progressive neurologic dysfunction
What is vit K used for? What would a deficiency cause?
Vit K is a cofactor in the liver for coagulation factors: 2,7,9,10 and protein C and S.
Deficiency causes clotting dysfunction and long PT
Symptoms of malabsorption generally depend on the nutrient not absorbed, however, what are some general presentations of malaborption?
- weight loss
- steattorhea (floating stool that smells)
- diarrhea
- vit deficiencies
Steatorrhea is a generalized sign of malabsorption. What are 4 places things can go wrong that would cause fat malaborption?
- decreased pancreatic secretions
- decreased biliary secretions
- abnormal enterocyte processing
- lymphatic obstruction
What malabsorption problems does pancreatic insufficiency from chronic pancreatitis cause?
- Protein malabsorption - decreased secretion of trypsinogen, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase, proelastase
- Fat malabsorption (steatorrhea) - decreased lipase/colipase
(carb malabsorption is rare because of the large reserves of amylase)
What will patients with liver disease malabsorb?
- Lipid malabsorption- Damage to hepatocytes (cirrhosis, PBC, etc) will decrease bile formation.
Bile is only necessary for lipid absorption