Digestive System Flashcards
What is the digestive tract?
the tube from the mouth to the anus
The digestive system is composed of what?
1) digestive tract
2) accessory organs
What are these accessory organs?
teeth, salivary glands, liver, pancreas etc.
What are the four basic processes of the digestive system?
1) digestion
2) absorption
3) motility
4) secretion
What is digestion?
the breaking down of large food pieces into small molecules
What are the different types of digestion?
mechanical and chemical
What is mechanical digestion?
- involves muscle movement (motility)
What is chemical digestion?
involves enzyme with acid
What is absorption?
the passing of the broken down molecules from the lumen to the enterocytes (small intestines cells) in the villi to the blood or lymph
What is motility?
smooth muscle contraction
What are the two kind of motility?
- mixed (segmentation and churning
- move (peristalsis)
What is secretion?
digestive juice into the lumen
What accessory organ is present in the mouth?
salivary gland
What does the salivary gland do in the mouth?
- the saliva it produces moistens (taste, speech, food manipulation) and prevents caries aka decay and crumbling because it has lysozyme and antibodies
How does the PSNS affect the salivary glands in digestion?
it stimulates secretion of thin enzyme rich saliva
How does the SNS affect the salivary glands in digestion?
it stimulates the secretion of mucus rich saliva
in the mouth, what is the mechanical digestion that’s occurring?
chewing
In the mouth, what is the chemical digestion that’s taking place?
1) carbohydrates are turned to disaccharides and oligosaccharides with the help of salivary amylase at the pH level of 7sh
2) triglycerides are turned into fatty acids and monoglycerides with the help of lingual lipase
What enzyme is present in the chemical digestion of carbohydrates?
salivary amylase
What enzyme is present in the chemical digestion of triglycerides?
lingual lipase
is food absorbed in the mouth?
no
whats being absorbed in the mouth?
some drugs such as nitroglycerin for angina to promote vasolidator?
Where does swallowing occur in the digestive system?
Pharynx and Esophagus
Swallowing occurs in three phases. What are they?
1) Buccal phase
2) Pharyngeal phase
3) Esophageal phase
What happens in the buccal phase?
food is compacted into a “bolus” by the tongue and gets sent to the pharynx by the tongue pressing on hard palate
What happens in the pharyngeal phase?
swallowing reflex initiated by the swallowing centre in the medulla
What happens in the esophageal phase?
- food moves down esophagus (peristalsis )
Peristalsis happens because of the nervous system. What do the SNS and PSNS innervate and where are they found in the esophagus?
SNS innervates skel muscle on the upper 1/3
PSNS innervates smooth muscle on the lower 1/3
and the middle 1/3 is a mix of both
Is the buccal phase a voluntary or involuntary action?
voluntary
Is the esophageal phase a voluntary or involuntary action?
involuntary
Is the pharyngeal phase a voluntary or involuntary action?
involuntary
Why cant food reenter while swallowing?
because the tongue is pressing on the hard plate
- the uvula and smooth plate of the nasopharynx are elevated
- the the glottis and epiglottis in the trachea are closed which temporary stops breathing
What is closed in the trachea during swallowing?
glottis and epiglottis
In the mouth, what prevents food from re-entering during swallowing?
tongue pressing on the hard palate
In the nasopharynx, what prevents food from re-entering when swallowing?
the uvula and soft palate are elevated
What is the mechanical digestion happening in the stomach?
motility –> churning
What is the chemical digestion happening in the stomach
1) carbohydrates being digested by salivary amylase until ph is below is 7
2) lipids being broken down by lingual lipase and gastric lipase until pH is less than 5-6
3) proteins are broken down by pepsin
How is pepsin (enzyme that breaks down protein) formed in the stomach?
- it starts of as pepsinogen (inactive form) secreted by the chief cells,
- HCl released by parietal cells converts the pepsinogen to pepsin
What prevents the stomach from self digestion?
by alkaline mucous or mucous cells
Is there absorption happening in the stomach? If so what’s being absorbed?
- food but very little
- alcohol and aspirin which penetrates the mucous
What is the mechanical digestion happening in the small intestines?
segmentation and peristalsis
Does chemical digestion take place in the small intestine?
yes
What are the three things involved in chemical digestion in the small intestines?
1) pancreas
2) gall bladder
3) intestinal wall
In general what are the three steps to intestinal chemical digestion?
1) Acid Neutralization
2) Pancreatic Enzymes
3) Intestinal Wall Enzymes
What happens in the acid neutralization step in intestinal chemical digestion? It this mechanism negative or positive
the acid (from the stomach) that enters the duodenum of the small intestine stimulates the secretion of the hormone “secretin” which increases the production of alkaline fluid HCO3- from the duct cells of the pancreas and gall bladder and the same time, it decreases gastric acid of the parietal cells
- negative
why is it important to neutralize acid first?
so pancreatic enzymes can work
In step 2 of intestinal chemical digestion, how are carbohydrates digested
through the help of pancreatic amylase, carbohydrates are converted into disaccharides(maltose) and oligosaccharides
In step 2 of intestinal chemical digestion,how do pancreatic enzymes digest proteins?
1) trypsinogen (an inactivated form of trypsin) gets converted to trypsin by the help of enteropeptidase from the intestinal wall?
2) the trypsin then activates other protease which aids in chemical digestion
- trypsin helps trypsinogen turn to trypsin (therefore positive feedback)
- trypsin converts chymotrypsinogen to chymotrypsin
- trypsin converts procarboxypeptidase to carboxypeptidase
3) Finally, the proteins from the diet, with the help of these activated protease, get converted to amino acids and peptides
In step 2 of intestinal chemical digestion how do do pancreatic enzymes digest lipids?
triglycerides are broken down to fatty acids and monoglycerides with the help of lipase and bile salt (not an enzyme, a catalyst = speeds up process)
How are pancreatic enzymes that come from pancreatic acinar cells and travel to the lumen regulated?
the increased fatty acids and amino acids in the duodenum increase cholecystokinin (CCK) which is a hormone
- cholecystokinin increases pancreatic enzyme secretion
- it decreases gastric motility (slows emptying) and gastric acid secretions
- it stimulates gall bladder contractions to release bile
Step 3 of intestinal chemical digestion happens is a further _________
breaking down/digestion on microvilli of enterocytes (intestine walls)
How do intestinal wall enzymes, step of 3 of intestinal chemical digestion further break down carbohydrates?
well the disaccharides and oligosaccharides are broken down to monosaccharides with the aid of disaccharidases and oligosaccharidases