Digestion and absorption Flashcards
What nutrients enter the body through the small intestine?
Carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins and minerals
What are 5 different pathways of nutrient digestion and absorption (give an example for each)?
Some nutrients are absorbed directly from the lumen without prior digestion (such as glucose).
Hydrolysis in the lumen, followed by absorption across the cell (starch, protein)
Hydrolysis on the apical membrane, followed by absorption across the cell (disaccharides)
Absorption into, and hydrolysis within the cell (di, tripeptides)
Following luminal hydrolysis, substances may be taken up and resynthesised within the cell (triglycerides)
What does dietary carbohydrate consist of?
Starch (amylose, amylopectin) and sugars (sucrose, lactose)
What initiates digestion of starch?
Salivary amylase
What completes digestion of starch to maltose?
Pancreatic amylase
What does starch get digested into (first step, 3 things)?
Maltose, maltotriose and alpha limit dextrins
What enzymes digest products of amylase digestion, where are they found?
Membrane bound dissacharidase enzymes
What enzymes digest sucrose and lactose?
Membrane bound dissacharidase enzymes
What are monosaccharides?
Glucose, fructose and galactose
What transporter absorbs glucose and galactose?
SGLT1
What type of carrier is SGLT1?
Na+ dependent, secondary active symporter
What other transporter (other than SGLT1) can absorb glucose across the apical membrane?
GLUT2
When is GLUT2 inserted apically, what sort of transporter is it?
When [glucose] increases
Facilitated diffusion
What is apical GLUT2 glucose absorption dependent on?
Ca2+
What absorbs fructose across the apical membrane?
Facilitated diffusion carrier GLUT5
How do monosaccharides leave the cell?
Exit the cell at the basolateral membrane on GLUT2 by facilitated diffusion
At what stage of the small bowel is absorption of carbohydrates complete?
Mid-jejunum
What do endopeptidases do vs exopeptidases?
Endopeptidase break peptide bonds of nonterminal amino acids (i.e. within the molecule)
Exopeptidases break peptide bonds from end-pieces of terminal amino acids.
What is an oligopeptidase?
A type of endopeptidase where substrate is an oligopeptide not a protein
Where does protein digestion begin?
The acidic environment of the stomach, where pepsin is secreted and activated.
What type of protein digesting enzyme is pepsin?
Endopeptidase
What protein digesting enzymes does the pancreas secrete?
Endopeptidases (trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase)
Exopeptidases (carboxypeptidases)
What transporters facilitate amino acid absorption?
Apical carriers, mostly Na+-dependent
Carriers for different classes (neutral, cationic, basic)
How do amino acids exit the cell?
Across basolateral membrane by facilitated diffusion on Na+-independent carriers
Can di/tripeptides be absorbed without prior digestion into amino acids?
Yes
How can di/tripeptides be directly absorbed across the apical membrane (transporter)?
H+ gradient dependent apical carrier protein, PepT-1.
What ion gradient is PepT-1 dependent on?
H+
Once inside the cell, what happens to absorbed di/tripeptidases?
Cytosolic peptidases then convert these absorbed peptides to amino acids
Why is the rate of amino acid absorption is faster in PepT1 than individual aa transporters, despite there being an extra step?
Maintains a high concentration gradient (peptides changed when they enter the cell)
More protein can pass as less selective.
What is the most common dietary lipid?
Triglycerides
What is the initial step of digestion of lipids?
Muscular movements of stomach emulsify fats (transformation into emulsion of oil droplets in water), aided by lingual/gastric lipases
By what stage of the small bowel is protein digestion complete?
End of jejunum
Where does most fat digestion occur?
Small intestine
What does pancreatic lipase do?
Digests triglycerides to monoglycerides and free fatty acids
What does co-lipase do?
Coordinates binding of pancreatic lipase to emulsion droplets
What is the effect of bile salts?
Detergents that decrease surface tension to make smaller oil droplets.
What is formed through the action of pancreatic lipase, colipase and bile salts?
Micelles
Where do micelles move after they form?
Diffuse to unstirred acidic layer adjacent to the apical membrane