Digestion Flashcards
Intake of fluids or other substances by cells of the skin or mucous membranes; the passage of digested foods from the gastrointestinal tract into blood or lymph.
Absorption
A secretion of the liver consisting of water, bile salts, bile pigments, cholesterol, lecithin, and several ions; it emulsifies lipids prior to their digestion.
Bile
A soft, rounded mass, usually food, that is swallowed.
Bolus
The secreting cell of a gastric gland that produces pepsinogen, the precursor of the enzyme pepsin, and the enzyme gastric lipase. Cell in the parathyroid glands that secretes parathyroid hormone (PTH).
Chief cells
The semifluid mixture of partly digested food and digestive secretions found in the stomach and small intestine during digestion of a meal.
Chyme
The portion of the large intestine consisting of ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid portions.
Colon
The act of swallowing.
Deglutition
The mechanical and chemical breakdown of food to simple molecules that can be absorbed and used by body cells.
Digestion
The dispersion of large lipid globules into smaller, uniformly distributed particles in the presence of bile.
Emulsification
The part of the nervous system that is embedded in the submucosa and muscularis of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract; governs motility and secretions of the GI tract.
Enteric nervous system
A cell of the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract that secretes a hormone that governs function of the GI tract.
Enteroendocrine cells
Glands in the mucosa of the stomach composed of cells that empty their secretions into narrow channels called gastric pits.
Gastric glands
A continuous tube running through the ventral body cavity extending from the mouth to the anus. Also called the alimentary (al?-i-MEN-tar-ē) canal.
Gastrointestinal tract
A liver cell.
Hepatocytes
A gland that opens onto the surface of the intestinal mucosa and secretes digestive enzymes. Also called a crypt of Lieberkühn (LĒ-ber-kūn).
Intestinal glands