GI Flashcards
What are NSAIDs?
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
What does hypertonic mean?
Having a higher osmotic pressure than a particular fluid, typically an intracellular fluid
What are the major salivary glands?
Parotid gland (serous); submandibular salivary gland (mixed serous and mucinous); sublingual salivary gland (mucinous)
What are the cells in the GI tract?
There is lymphoid tissue, exocrine glands, endocrine glands, layers of muscle. It has a large surface area.
What is the mucosa of the GI tract?
The structure depends on the site within GI tract. It is specialised to provide a variety of functions. It may include endocrine and exocrine cells.
What is the submucosa of the GI tract?
It is loose connective tissue. It contains nerve plexuses.
What are the layers of the muscularis propria?
It has an inner circular layer at an outer longitudinal layer.
What epithelium does the mouth have and why?
It has stratified squamous epithelium to resist stress and infection.
What immune defence does the mouth have?
It has lymphoid tissue to resist infection, along with lysozyme and IgA.
Where is keratin in the mouth?
It is on the lips to resist dessication
What glands are in the mouth?
There are mucinous and seromucinous glands to initiate digestion and facilitate movement
What enzyme is secreted in saliva?
Amylase to initiate digestion.
What is in the oral cavity?
Buccal mucosa, the tongue, gums and the roof and floor of the mouth.
What are the three taste buds in the mouth?
Circumvallate papillae; filiform papillae; fungiform papillae
Where are circumvallate papillae?
They are taste buds prominent in the walls of the surrounding ‘moats’. They form a V-shaped line demarcating the anterior 2/3rds and the posterior 1/3rd of the tongue. It detects bitter taste.
Where are the filiform papillae?
They are located in the anterior 2/3rds of the tongue, they aren’t taste buds.
Where are the fungiform papillae?
They are randomly scattered, mushroom-like shape. They taste sweet taste at the top of the tongue and salty taste is at the lateral sides.
What is the function of the mucosa in the mouth?
The mucosa is a physical barrier so acts as a defence mechanism.
What is the defence function of the salivary glands?
Salivary glands secrete saliva that washes away food particles, bacteria and viruses. They are surrounded by lymphatic systems, which are linked to the thoracic duct and blood vessels.
What is the defence function of the palatine tonsils?
They contain lymphocyte subsets and dendritic cells.
Where is saliva produced?
Unstimulated saliva is mainly from the submandibular glands. Stimulated saliva is mainly parotid secretion.
What is the function of saliva?
It is a lubricant for mastication, swallowing and speech. It acts as a bicarbonate/carbonate buffer for rapid neutralisation of acids so the pH is 7.2
What glands secrete saliva?
The serous glands secrete alpha amylase and the mucous glands secrete mucins for lubrication of mucosal surfaces. Most minor glands are mucous
What are the saliva flow statistics?
Daily secretion of 800-1500ml in adults. The pH ranges from 6.2-7.4. The flow rate is 0.3-7ml/minute
How do salivary glands transport electrolytes?
They are equipped with channels and transporters in the apical and basolateral membranes enabling transport of fluid and electrolytes.
What cells are salivary ducts made of?
They are composed of two types of epithelial tissues: acinar cells and ducts. These two form a large duct entering the mouth.
What are the two types of acinar cells?
There are serous and mucous acinar cells.
What are serous acinar cells?
They are small central ducts, that secrete water and alpha amylose. They are dark staining and have a nucleus in the basal third.
What are mucous acinar cells?
They are large central ducts that secrete mucous. They are pale staining and have the nucleus at the base of the cell.
What are the types of ducts in salivary glands?
There are interlobular ducts and a main excretory duct.
What are interlobular ducts split into?
They are intercalated and striated.
What are intercalated intralobular ducts?
They are short narrow duct segments with cuboidal cells that connect acini to larger striated ducts.
What are striated intralobular ducts?
They are the major site for reabsorption of NaCl. The basal membrane is highly folded into microvilli for active transport of HCO3- against the concentration gradient. They are filled with mitochondria.
What is primary saliva?
It is an NaCl rich isotonic plasma-like fluid secreted by acini cells.
What do the salivary ducts excrete?
They secrete K+ and HCO3- and reabsorb Na+ and Cl-. The epithelium of the duct doesn’t allow any water movement so the final saliva becomes hypotonic.
What is the predominant pathway for protein excretion from the salivary gland?
It is mucosal and leads to the saliva across the apical membrane.
What is the constitutive pathway for protein excretion from the salivary gland?
It is serousal and leads mainly towards the interstitium and the blood stream across the basolateral membrane
What is the first stage of swallowing?
It is voluntary. Food is compressed against the roof of the mouth and pushed towards the oropharynx by the tongue.
What is stage 2 of swallowing?
It is involuntary. The nasopharynx is closed off by the soft palate. The pharynx is shortened and widened by elevation of the hyoid bone.
What is the third stage of swallowing?
It is involuntary. It is sequential contraction of the constrictor muscles, followed by the return of the hyoid bone and the pharynx.
What are the problems with swallowing?
The gag reflex, choking, obstruction of the airway, impactation of food within the laryngopharynx.
What happens during the gag reflex?
There is reflex elevation of the pharynx, caused by irritation of the oropharynx. The reflex arc is between CN IX and X
How does choking happen?
Failure to co-ordinate swallowing actions.
What is the foregut?
It consists of the pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, the proximal half of the duodenum, liver, pancreas and biliary tract.
What artery supplies the foregut?
It is supplied by the celiac artery.
What is midgut?
It consists of the small intestine, caecum, vermiform appendix, ascending colon and the left 2/3rds of the transverse colon.
What supplied the midgut?
The superior mesenteric artery
What is the hindgut?
The right 1/3rd of the transverse colon, the descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectum and anal canal.
What is the hindgut supplied by?
The inferior mesenteric artery
What is screening?
A process which sorts out apparently well people who probably have a disease from those who probably don’t
What are the three types of disease prevention?
Primary, secondary and tertiary
What is primary prevention?
Prevention when there is no disease
What is secondary prevention?
Prevention when there are no symptoms
What is tertiary prevention?
Prevention when the patient already has a clinical disease
What is the definition of sensitivity?
The proportion of people with the disease who are correctly identified by screening.
What is specifity?
The proportion of people who don’t have the disease who are correctly excluded by screening.
What causes Barrett’s oesophagus?
It is caused by reflux of reflux gastric acid into the oesophagus
What happens when the patient has Barrett’s oesophagus?
Squamous epithelium undergoes metaplasia to become columnar epithelium (more suitable to the environment)
What is the role of pepsin?
It accelerates protein digestion. It accounts for approx 20% of protein digestion. It breaks down collagen in meat, which helps provide a larger SA for digestion
What is the function of the oesophagus?
It conveys food from mouth to the stomach
What epithelium is in the oesophagus?
Stratified squamous non-keratinised epithelium that can resist sheer stress
What is mucosa of the oesophagus?
It is made up of the lamina propria, muscularis propria, and muscularis mucosae.
What is the muscularis mucosae?
It is a thin layer of smooth muscle
What is the adventitia of the oesophagus?
It is a loose fibrous connective tissue.
Which part of the oesophagus is covered by peritoneum?
The intrabdominal 2-3cm of the oesophagus is covered by the peritoneum
What is gastric emptying?
When the capacity of the stomach is greater than the capacity of the duodenum
What does overfilling of the duodenum cause?
It causes dumping syndrome. The symptoms are D&V, cramping and bloating.
What does gastric emptying cause?
Gastroparesis. It is idiopathic. It causes nausea, GORD, vomiting and undigested food.
What regulates gastric emptying?
It is regulated by the same factors that regulate HCl production
How are proteases activation?
Chief cells secrete pepsinogen, which is converted into pepsin by the presence of HCl. Pepsin catalysed the breakdown of proteins into peptides.
What effects protease activation?
Pepsinogen to pepsin is pH dependant. It is most effective when pH is less than 2. Pepsin is only active at low pH.
Where is pepsin inactivated?
There is irreversible inactivation in the small intestine by HCO3-
What is the feedback mechanism of protease activation?
There is a positive feedback loop because pepsin also catalyses the reaction
What happens during protease secretion?
Chief cells produce pepsinogen. It is synthesised as a zymogen.
Why do chief cells produce pepsinogen not pepsin?
Because pepsin is active and pepsinogen isn’t.
What is a zymogen?
An inactive substance, which is converted to an enzyme when activated by another enzyme.
What regulates protease secretion?
The secretion parallels HCl secretion. It is activated by the stomach lumen. The pepsinogen secretion is mediated by input from the enteric nervous system (ACh)
What are the causes of peptic ulcers?
Helicobacter pylori, NSAIDs and bile salts.
How does helicobacter pylori?
It lives in the gastric mucus and secretes urease, which splits urea into CO2+ and ammonia. Ammonia and H+ makes ammonium, which secretes proteases and phospholipids that damage gastric epithelium, reducing mucosal defence
How does NSAIDs cause peptic ulcers?
It inhibits cyclo-oxygenase 1, which is needed for prostaglandin synthesis, which secretes mucus so there is reduced mucosal defence because you don’t make glucose.
How do bile salts cause peptic ulcers?
Bile salts cause duodeno-gastric reflux. Regurgitated bile strips away mucus layer, so there is reduced mucosal defence.
What is a peptic ulcer?
An ulcer is a breach in a mucosal surface (a gap in the epithelial cells) (the stomach digests itself)
When does a stomach ulcer occur?
If there is a increased mucosal attack or a reduced mucosal defence
What is the mucosal defence made up of?
It consists of: alkaline mucus; tight junctions between epithelial cells; replacement of damaged cells (stem cells from the bottom of the gastric loop) and negative feedback loops
What do parietal cells secrete?
Parietal cells actively transport H+ out of their cells, creating approx 2L of HCl/day. It also secretes K+ and Cl- into the stomach lumen through ion channels.
What do parietal cells absorb to secrete gastric acid?
They receive Cl- from the capillary. They actively absorb K+ from the stomach lumen.
How is the H+ needed for gastric acid replenished?
The H+ comes from hydrolysis in the cell. CO2 and H2O replenish the H+ and also the HCO3- excreted into the capillary
What organs regulate gastric acid secretion?
The brain, stomach and duodenum.
What neurotransmitter affects gastric acid secretion?
The parasympathetic neurotransmitter ACh activates secretion.
What hormone affects gastric acid secretion?
The hormone gastrin activates secretion
How do paracrine factors affect gastric acid secretion?
The paracrine factor histamine activates secretion and somatostatin inhibits secretion
How do enterogastrones affect gastric acid secretion?
The enterogastrones secretin inhibits secretion and CCK inhibits secretion
What makes up the muscularis externa of the stomach?
It is made up of 3 layers of smooth muscle: an outer longitudinal layer; a middle circular layer and an inner oblique layer of smooth muscle
What is the function of the cardia of the stomach?
It controls the entry of the bolts into the stomach and prevents reflux.
What cells make up the cardia of the stomach?
It has a non-specialised glandular mucosa.
What cells make up the fundus and body of the stomach?
They have straight glands, parietal cells and chief cells and APUD (secretes gastrin).
What cells make up the Antrum of the stomach?
It has straight mucous glands and no parietal cells.
What cells make up the pylorus of the stomach?
They have mucous glands. It is a prominent superficial zone.
What are the functions of the stomach?
Store and mix food; dissolve and continue digestion; regulate emptying into the duodenum; kill microbes; secrete proteases in an inactive form; secrete intrinsic factors; activate proteases; lubrication; mucosal production
What are the key cell types in the stomach?
Parietal cells, chief cells, enteroendocrine cells and mucous cells on the surface of the gastric epithelium
What is qualitative research?
A methodological approach to research that emphasis words, exploration and interpretation rather than numbers.
What are the barriers preventing lots of qualitative research?
The dominance of clinical epidemiology and lack of method transparency
What is qualitative research used for?
To quantify the likelihood of participating; compare the characteristics of participants who participate or not
Where does the greater omentum hang down from?
The greater curvature of the stomach. The posterior layer also fuses with the mesentary of the transverse colon.
How does the spleen develop?
The spleen develops as a mesodermal proliferation in the left layer of stomach dorsal mesentary
What is the spleen attached to?
The spleen is attached to the posterior abdominal wall in the region of the left kidney by the lienorenal ligament and it is connected to the stomach by the gastrolienal ligament.
How if the lesser sac formed?
Longitudinal rotation of the stomach pulls the dorsal mesentery to the left, creating a space behind the stomach, which is the lesser sac. At the same time, the anterior mesentery is pulled to the right
Where is the dorsal mesentery?
It extends from the lower part of the oesophagus to the cloacal region.
Where is the ventral mesentery?
The ventral mesentary is present only in the region of the foregut. So the foregut is the only region of the gut that contains both ventral and dorsal mesentary.
What is the ventral mesentary derived from?
The septum transversum
What does the free lower margin of the ventral mesentary contain?
The hepatic artery, the portal vein and the bile duct.
Where does the liver develop from?
It develops in the free lower margin of the ventral mesentary. It divides it into the lesser omentum and the falciform ligament
How does the stomach rotate around the longitudinal axis whilst being an embryo?
The stomach rotates 90degrees around he axis so the left side is anterior and the right side is posterior, the nerves move simultaneously.
How do the lesser and greater curvature of the stomach form?
During rotation around the longitude like axis the left side grows faster than the right and gives rise to the greater and lesser curvatures.
What happens when the stomach rotates around the posterior axis?
The stomach rotates so it’s pyloric end moves right and upwards and it’s cardiac end moves to the left and downwards
When does the respiratory diverticulum (lung bud) develop in a foetus?
At 4 weeks the respiratory diverticulum appears at the beginning of the oesophagus.
What does the tracheoesophageal septum do?
It gradually develops and separates the diverticulum from the dorsal part of the foregut. The ventral part is the respiratory primordium.
What is an intraperitoneal organ?
An organ that is surrounded and connected to the body wall by mesentary.
What are ligaments?
Double layers of peritoneum that pass from an organ to another organ or to the body wall.
What are the functions of the mesentary and ligaments?
They provide a pathway for blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves to go to and from the abdominal viscera
How many pharyngeal pouches are there?
There are 4.
What weeks does the pharynx develop in?
It develops in week 4/5.
What are the pharyngeal arches made from?
They are formed of masses of mesenchymal tissue which are invaded by the cranial neural crest cells. Each arch is covered externally by ectoderm and internally by endoderm.
What are the pharyngeal pouches?
They are envaginations in the endoderm that lines the internal pharyngeal arches.
What are the pharyngeal clefts?
They appear on the external pharyngeal wall in the ectoderm of the pharyngeal arches.
What is the greater omentum?
It is part of the dorsal mesentery of the stomach, which is hanging down from its greater curvature.
What is the lesser omentum?
It is part of the ventral mesentary of the stomach, it is attached superiority to the liver and to the lesser curvature of the stomach inferiorly
What is the greater sac?
It is the part of the peritoneal cavity that you enter when you open the anterior abdominal wall and the parietal peritoneum
What is the lesser sac?
It is the part of the peritoneal cavity, which is trapped behind the stomach and the liver
What are the four categories of carbohydrates?
Free sugars (mono & disaccharides); short chain carbohydrates (oligosaccharides); starch; non-starch polysaccharides
What do buccinator and suprahyoid muscles do?
They manipulate food during chewing. They elevate the hyoid bone and flatten the floor of the mouth
What muscles are used in the first stage of swallowing?
The buccinator and suprahyoid muscles
What are the muscles of the palate used to do in swallowing?
They help to form the bolus of food and close off the nasopharynx during swallowing
What do the muscles of the floor of the mouth do during swallowing?
They lower the mandible if the hyoid bone is fixed. They raise the hyoid bone and larynx if the mandible is fixed
What muscles are used is the second phase of swallowing?
The muscles of the floor of the mouth
What does the infrahyoid muscle of the neck do?
If fixes the hyoid bone, enabling opening of the mouth. They draw down the hyoid bone and larynx.
What muscles are used in the third phase of swallowing?
The infrahyoid muscles
What are the pharyngeal constrictor muscles?
They are three overlapping muscles that form the posterior and lateral sides of the pharynx.
What innervates the pharyngeal constrictor muscles?
The pharyngeal plexus (CN X, XI)
What order do the pharyngeal constrictor muscles contract in?
They contract sequentially, from above down, to drive to bolus into the oesophagus during the third phase
What does the parasympathetic nervous system do to the gastric acid secretion?
It turns it on. Acetylcholine is released from the parasympathetic nerve ends in the stomach.
What activates parasympathetic nervous system of gastric acid secretion?
It is activated by sight, smell, taste of food and chewing.
What affect does acetylcholine have on gastric acid secretion?
It acts directly on parietal cells and stimulates proton cells. It triggers the release of gastrin and histamine, which both turn on parietal cells
What does gastrin do during gastric acid secretion?
It acts directly on the parietal cells and triggers the release of histamine
What does histamine do during gastric acid secretion?
It acts directly on the parietal cells but it also mediates the effects of gastrin and ACh
What do proteins in the stomach do?
They are a direct stimulus for gastrin release. They also act as a buffer, mopping up H+ ions, causing the pH to rise.
What does a rise in pH of the stomach cause?
It causes a decreased secretion of somatostatin
What does somatostatin do?
It turns off the stomach
What is a xenobiotic?
A foreign substance that is not meant to be in the body. They are absorbed either unintentionally as compounds pr sent in food and drink or deliberately as drugs for therapeutic purposes
What is an exogenous xenobiotics?
Ingested but not meant to be there like drugs and pollutants
What is an endogenous xenobiotics?
Things created in the body that aren’t meant to be there like urea
What is cytochrome P450?
It is an enzyme that catalyses phase 1 reactions in liver detoxification
What does phase 1 in liver detoxification do?
Adds or exposes functional groups to make the xenobiotics functional
What happens during phase 2 in liver detoxification?
It is conjugation with endogenous molecules
What is the aim of liver detoxification?
To make xenobiotics soluble so they can be excreted in the urea. They do this by making them polar so they are dissolved in water
Where is cytochrome P450 found?
In all of your body, but there is a high concentration of it in the liver
How much of iron ingested is anyone’s each day?
10%
How do you loose iron?
Urine, faeces, menstrual blood, sweat
Where is ingested ion actively transported to?
Intestinal epithelium cells
What is ferretin?
It is an iron complex that acts as an intracellular iron store
What happens to iron bound to ferretin?
It is either transferred to transferrin or it is excreted back into the intestinal lumen, where it is excreted as faeces
What happens to ferretin levels when there is an iron increase?
It increases the ferretin level, by activating the transcription factors, increasing the amount of iron stored
How is ferritin in the liver formed?
Iron from transferring is transported to the liver and combines with apoferritin to form ferritin
What happens if you have too much B12?
Your red blood cells swell and stop working
Deficiency of B12 causes what?
Pernitcious anaemia, when RBC don’t concave so they have smaller surface area
Is vitamin B12 water soluble?
Yes
What vitamins are water soluble?
B12
What vitamins are fat soluble?
A, D, E, K
Where is vitamin A stored?
In the stellate cells of the space of Disse in the liver
What does vitamin A do?
It regulates the contraction of the sinusoids because it is in the space of Disse
What does too much vitamin A cause?
Portal hypertension, liver cirrhosis
What happens during prenylation?
Adding of a hydrophilic groups to a protein
What is the function of the urea?
It turns ammonia into urea
How much of what acid does the stomach secrete everyday?
2L of HCl
What does a low luminal stomach pH do?
It inhibits gastrin secretion, which indirectly inhibits histamine release. It also stimulates somatostatin release, which inhibits parietal cell activity
What does duodenal distension do to parietal cells?
It turns them off
What causes a low luminal pH in the duodenum?
Hypertonic luminal contents, because of the presence of amino acids and fatty acids