Digestion Flashcards
What is the alimentary canal?
The alimentary canal is the journey your food takes from the mouth to the anus, as one long tube, except the liver and pancreas.
What happens in the mouth?
In the mouth, the food (or bolus) is mechanically chewed by the teeth, mechanically digesting it. Additionally, saliva, containing amylase, is secreted from the salivary glands, partially chemically digesting starch into maltose.
What happens in the oesophagus?
In the oesophagus, the bolus is transported from the mouth to the stomach due to peristalsis, the rhythmic contracting of the antagonistically-working muscle pair in the muscle lining of the oesophagus, squeezing food through it.
What happens in the salivary glands?
The salivary glands produce key enzymes (amylase) required for the chemical digestion of carbohydrates.
What happens in the liver?
The liver produces bile
What is another word for the oesophagus?
The gullet
What happens in the stomach?
The stomach contains hydrochloric acid, with a low acidic pH, to kill bacteria and create an optimum pH for enzyme action, such as the protease pepsin. It produces key enzymes.
