Digestive System Flashcards
What are the digestive functions?
- ingestion
- mechanical processing
- digestion: chemical breakdown of food into small organic fragments
- secretion: water, acids, enzymes, buffers, and salts
- absorption: organic substrates, electrolytes, vitamins, and water
- excretion: waste products, defecation
What is included in the gastrointestinal tract?
mouth
pharynx
esophagus
stomach
small intestine
large intestine
anus
What are the accessory organs of the digestive system?
teeth
tongue
glandular organs: salivary glands, liver, pancreas
What are monogastrics?
a single, true stomach
What do ruminants have?
multiple compartment, including a large, fermentative compartment called the rumen
What are the four major layers of the GI tract wall?
mucosa
submucosa
muscularis externa
serosa
What is the digestive epithelium of the mucosa?
- a stratified squamous epithelium in the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus
- a simple columnar epithelium (containing goblet cells) in the stomach, small intestine and almost the entire length of the large intestine
What is the lamina propria of the mucosa?
- a layer of areolar tissue
- contains blood vessels, sensory nerve endings, lymphatic vessels, smooth muscle cells (muscularis mucosae), mucosal glands, and lymphoid tissue
Describe the longitudinal folds (rugae) of the mucosa
- disappear as the tract fills (circular folds or plicae)
- permanent transverse folds: villi, microvilli
these structures dramatically increase the surface area available for absorption
What is the submucosa?
- a layer of dense irregular connective tissue that surrounds the muscularis mucosae
- contains large blood and lymphatic vessels, exocrine glands
- a network of nerve fibers and scattered neurons (submucosal plexus)
What does the muscularis externa contain?
smooth muscle cells:
- an inner, circular layer
- an outer, longitudinal layer
What does the muscularis externa do?
- an essential role in mechanical processing and in the movement of materials
- movements are coordinated primarily by neurons of the myenteric plexus
What is the serosa?
a serous membrane
What is the order of the lining of the GI tract?
mucosa
- epithelium
- lamina propria
- muscularis mucosa
submucosa
muscularis propria
- circular muscle
- longitudinal muscle
serosa or adventitia
What is peristalsis in the movement of digestive materials?
- circular muscle contractions
- wavelike movement along the tract
- propel digestive tract contents along the tube ahead of them
What is segmentation in the movement of digestive materials?
- periodic circular muscle contractions
- occur in different adjacent sites
- mixes digestive tract contents and slows their movement through the tract
What are the neural mechanisms that control digestive function?
short reflexes
- the sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons are all located in the myenteric plexus
- coordinating local peristalsis and triggering the secretion of digestive glands in one regions of the digestive tracts
long reflexes
- involve interneurons and motor neurons in the CNS (ANS)
- control large-scale peristaltic waves
Describe the hormonal mechanisms that control digestive mechanisms
- the digestive tract produces at least 18 hormones
- affect evert aspect of digestive function and may affect the activities of the other systems
What are the local mechanisms that control the digestive function?
local factors (pH, physical and chemical stimulations) affect adjacent cells within a small segment of the digestive tract
What is included in the oral (buccal) cavity or mouth?
lips, tongue, teeth, salivary glands, hard plate, soft plate, and oropharynx
What are the functions of the oral cavity?
- analysis of food
- mechanical processing
- lubrication by mixing with mucus and salivary secretions
- initiating the digestion of carbohydrates and lipid by the enzymes of salivary glands
What are the salivary glands made of?
three pairs of compound tubuloalveolar glands
What are the three glands of the salivary glands?
parotid glands
- largest
- produce watery saliva containing salivary amylase
submandibular glands
- secrete a mixture of buffers, glycoproteins and amylase
sublingual glands
- smallest
- produce a watery, mucous secretion that acts as a buffer and lubricant and lingual lipase
What are the functions of the monogastric stomach?
- the bulk storage of ingested food
- the mechanical breakdown of ingested food
- the disruption of chemical bonds in food via acids and enzymes (mainly protein digestion by pepsin)
ingested food + secretions of stomach = highly acidic, partially digested chyme
What are the five regions of the monogastric stomach?
- the cardia: opening from the esophagus
- the fundus: distensible blind pouch
- the body: central portion of the stomach
- the pyloric antrum: lower part
- the pylorus: muscular sphincter guards the exit from the stomach
- in a relaxed state, the stomach lining contains numerous rugae
Describe the histology of the stomach
the epithelium produces mucus that covers the interior surfaces
gastric pits: mucous cells, mucus
in the fundus and body: gastric glands
- parietal cells: secrete hydrochloric acid
- chief cells: secret pepsinogen, which is converted by acids to the enzyme pepsin
in the pyloric antrum: endocrine cells
- G cells: secrete pepsin that stimulate the secretion of both parietal and chief cells and contraction of the gastric wall
What regulates gastric activity?
A. the cephalic phase
B. the gastric phase
C. the intestinal phase
What is the function of the cephalic phase?
prepare stomach for the arrival of food
What is the duration of the cephalic phase?
short (minutes)
What is the mechanism of the cephalic phase?
neural, via preganglionic fibers in vagus nerve and synapses in submucosal plexus
What are the actions of the cephalic phase
primary: increased volume of gastric juice by stimulation mucus, enzyme, and acid production
secondary: stimulation of gastrin release by G cells