Gastrointestinal System Flashcards
What are the two main structures of the digestive system?
- alimentary canal aka GI tract- tube that starts at the mouth and ends at anus [ peristalsis occurs here]
- accessory organs- secretes items to aid in digestion
What are the accessory organs?
- tongue
- salivary glands
- liver
- gallbladder
- pancreas
What are the main structures of the GI tract?
- mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, illeum), large intestines (appendix, cecum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectum, anal canal)
What is a function of the appendix
immune function (has good bacteria)
What is the function of the rectum?
temporarily stores feces
What are the functions of the digestive system?
- ingest, digest, absorb (nutrients like amino acids or glucose are absorbed into the bloodstream) food and eliminate the undigested food remains as feces
What are the two types of digestion done by the GI tract.
- mechanical digestion
- chemical digestion
Explain mechnical digestion
Name examples of mechanical digestion
- physical breakdown of food into smaller particles to aid in chemical digestion; NO chemical rxn
- examples: chewing and grinding in the mouth; churning and mixing in the stomach
Explain chemical digestion
Name examples of chemical digestion
- done by enzymes and acid; chemical rxn present (changes one substance into another)
- example: starch broken down into glucose; proteins broken down into AA; fats, lipids broken down into fatty acids and glycerol
Rest and digest is done by which arm of the nervous system?
parasympathetic
General pathway of food travel from the mouth to the anus
- mouth- teeth, tongue, salivary glands
- pharynx
- esophagus
- LES
- stomach
- pyloric sphincter
- small intestines- duodenum, jejunum, ileum
- large intestine- appendix, cecum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectum, anal canal
Where does mechnical digestion begin?
teeth of the mouth
Where is the first area of chemical digestion?
-
mouth, more specifically, the
saliva from salivary glands that contains amylase to digest starch, amylose
Where is the first site of protein digestion?
stomach
through pepsin released by chief cells
Where is most of the chemical digestion and absorption done?
chemical digestion: duodenum of the small intestines
absorption: proximal jejunum is the most, and then duodenum
What nerve does sensory control to the top teeth? bottom teeth?
CN 5 (trigeminal) -
* top teeth: maxillary branch
* bottom teeth: mandibular branch
tongue
- What type of muscle is the tongue?
- What is the function?
- What nerve does motor control?
- skeletal
- mixes the food with saliva
- CN 12 (hypoglossal)
Where is the food bolus made?
by the teeth, tongue, and salivary glands of the mouth
What is present in the saliva made by salivary glands?
amylase, which digests starches (a complex carb) into simple sugars AS WELL AS lipase
What are the 3 salivary glands? What nerves control them? What branch of the NS do those nerves belong to?
- parotid- CN9 (glossopharyngeal- parasympathetic)
- sublingual- CN 7 (facial- parasympathetic)
- submandibular- CN 7 (facial- parasympathetic)
What type of muscle is the esophagus? Explain the movements through it.
- smooth muscle
- when the m. contracts, it does peristalsis to push food bolus down.
What are the 2 important sphincters of the GI tract? What are the general functions of each?
- LES- closes to prevent food from going back up the esophagus
- Pyloric- closes to prevent food from leaving the stomach early before it is fully mixed up as chyme
Two pathological states of LES
- too tight- achalasia: food harder time to enter stomach and so pt loses weight bc not able to eat as much food
- too relaxed- GERD: food (acidic) goes up esophagus due to hormone (ie. relaxin from pregnancy) or mechanical (ie. preggo and large belly or overweight) or other reasons.
What is the function of the stomach?
- mechanical and chemical digestion
- copiouos amount of mechnical digestion are accomplished through it having 3 layers; it mixes and churns food and turns it into chyme.
- chemical digestion: pepsin in stomach to breakdown proteins
Where is food turned into chyme?
stomach. through its mixing and churning action of food and combining it with digestive juices
What are the functions of the liver?
- produces and secretes bile, which can be temp stored in the gallbladder or released through the common bile duct directly into the duodenum after a meal
- processes nutrients (carbs, proteins) from the blood through input from the Hepatic portal vein (from gut) and Hepatic Artery (from aorta)- takes the amino acids from nutrient absorption it needs and then distributes the rest
- blood sugar (glucose) regulator- stores excess glucose as glyogen (glycogenesis) or even fat (lipogenesis) after carb meal ingestion and digestion OR if sense low blood glucose, does breakdown of glycogen into glucose (glycogenolysis), lipolysis, or gluconeogenesis (from AA or glycerol) [ keeps blood glucose at arond 100 mg/dL]
- detoxification (ie. enzymes to breakdown alcohol and drugs)- so removes waste from blood like kidney and spleen
- deamination- removes amino group (NH2) from amino acids, which turn it into ammonia (NH3), which is TOXIC, so liver enzymes convert it into urea, which is NON-toxic, and is taken up by the kidney’s to be excreted in the urine.
- makes plasma proteins: albumin-holds water in blood vessels to maintain BP, transferin- transports Fe stored in liver to bone marrow to be incorporated into developing RBC’s, clotting factors (including fibrinogen)- to prevent bleeding out, complement to fight off infections
- stores fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
- conjugates bilirubin, which is a breakdown product of RBC (spleen also does old RBC removal)
glycogen is a polysaccharide equivalent to plant starch
hepcidin made in the liver INHIBITS iron absorption bc too much iron leads to liver, spleen, and joint issues.
What substances are released into the duodenum to aid in chemical digestion? Where do those things come from and how do they get to duodenum?
- pancreatic- amylase, trypsin, lipase via pancreatic duct to duodenum
- liver- bile via common bile duct to the duodenum or stored bile from gallbladder
- both those ducts meet at ampulla of vater to get into duodenum and release of contents are controlled by the sphincter of Oddi.
What is the function of bile?
- the bile salts part of the bile aids in lipid digestion: helps the lipids better dissolve in water by emulsifying - make hydrophobic substance water soluble- them into fat droplets aka micelles- so that pancreatic lipases, which are water soluble, can act on the fat droplets and turn them into fatty acids and glycerol.
- enhances absorption of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K)- rlly these vit only absorb well when present in fatty food and NOT fat free food.
What type of digestion is emulsifying?
mechnical
Indications of liver problems
- fat in stool bc shows that not able to produce bile to help breakdown the fats to be absorbed into blood stream
- elevated liver enzymes like ALT (alanine transaminase), which normally turns alanine, an amino acid, into pyruvate.
- bleeding issues bc liver produces most of the clotting factors
- erratic BP bc produces albumin that normally holds water in vessels to maintain BP.
- high ammonia, which is toxic and can lead to confusion, bc liver is supposed to turn it into nontoxic urea
- nonalcoholic fatty liver dz
- cirrhosis
- hepatitis
What is the importance of Vit K?
needed in clotting factor production
note: calcium is also important for blood clotting
What is the function of the gallbladder?
store and concentrate bile; when there is food, it contracts and sends bile to the duodenum via the common bile duct
if too much bile is concentrated = get gall stones
What is the function of the pancreas (3 types of items it secretes)?
- makes exocrine products: MOST of the digestive enzymes (amylase, trypsin, lipase) that are then sent through the pancreatic duct to the duodenum
Note: pancreatic enzymes are activated by bicarb, which is also secreted by the pancreas
- also make bicarb, which neutralizes the acidic chyme coming from the stomach, so it prevents ulcers
- makes endocrine products: beta cells also makes insulin, a hormone, bc it is secreted into the blood
enzymes
What does amylase do?
breakdown starch into simple sugars
Bile is an enzyme T or F?
FALSE, it IS a chemical but is NOT an enzyme
Where do H. Pylori love to live and what can it cause?
- pylorus of the stomach
- stomach ulcers
What does the smooth m. in the digestive system do? What organs do they do that function in?
- wave peristalsis (from smooth m. contractions) to push food along ie. esophagus and stomach (churn and mix food) and intestines [ this motion is also present in the ureters]
- physical breakdown of food