Digestion & Absorption

Question 1

What is the Alimentary Canal?

Answer 1

Structures form a ‘tube’ called the alimentary canal.

Question 2

What are the major structures of the digestive system?

Answer 2

Mouth, Esophagus, stomach, gall bladder, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas, liver

Question 3

What is the mouth, and what does it do?

Answer 3

chewing mechanical
digests food, which increases
surface area

Question 4

What is the esophagus and what does it do?

Answer 4

transports food

to stomach via peristalsis

Question 5

What is the stomach and what does it do?

Answer 5

churns food and
has acidic environment that
kills pathogens and activates
enzymes.

Question 6

What is the small intestine and what does it do?

Answer 6

has
enzymes that chemically
digest biomolecules. Wall
absorbs small molecules.

Question 7

What does the liver do?

Answer 7

secretes bile

Question 8

What does the Gall bladder do?

Answer 8

stores and

regulates bile

Question 9

What does the pancreas do?

Answer 9

secretes lipase,

amylase and protease

Question 10

What does the large intestine do?

Answer 10

absorbs
water and compacts waste to
form feces

Question 11

What is Peristalsis?

Answer 11

a wave of muscle
contractions that pushes food
through the gut and mixes it with
enzymes.

Question 12

What happens in the intestinal wall?

Answer 12

enzymes break
macromolecules into
monomers that can be
absorbed by the intestinal
wall. This is done via
hydrolysis.

Question 13

What does protease / peptidase do?

Answer 13

digest proteins into amino acids

Question 14

What does Amylase do?

Answer 14

digests starches
& glycogens into simple
sugars

Question 15

What does Nuclease do?

Answer 15

digests nucleic

acids into nucleotides

Question 16

What does Lipase do?

Answer 16

digests lipids into

fatty acids

Question 17

Which polymer remains undigested?

Answer 17

Cellulose

Question 18

What is Absorption?

Answer 18

the process of
taking substances into cells
and mainly occurs in the
small intestine. The rate of
absorption depends on the
surface area available.

Question 19

What are villi?

Answer 19

finger-like projections of the mucosa that the inner

intestine wall.

Question 20

What is Starch?

Answer 20

a macromolecule that is made in plants by joining

α-glucose molecules.

Question 21

Where is Glucose transported to?

Answer 21

Glucose is transported from the lumen to the capillaries

Question 22

How are Fatty Acids transported?

Answer 22

1. Triglycerides are broken down into fatty acids, which diffuse into cells
2. Inside, they combine with cholesterol and proteins to form lipoproteins
3. The lipoproteins are excreted via exocytosis
4. They then enter the lacteal and are carried away from the intestines