GI physiology Flashcards
What are the 4 functions of the digestive system
Digestion (mechanical breakdown of food)
Secretion ( chemical breakdown)
Absorption (nutrients taken from outside your body and transferred into your body)
Motility (muscular aspect to allow everything to be pushed along)
What happens in the mouth
Foodstuffs broken down by chewing; saliva added as lubricant
Whats the function of the oesophagus in digestion
conduit between mouth and stomach
What is the stomachs function in digestion
Digestion of proteins; foodstuffs reduced to liquid form; storage; sterilisation
What is the pancreas function in digestion
Digestive enzymes for digestion of fats, carbs and proteins
What is the Livers function in digestion
Bile salts for digestion/absorption of fats in small intestine
Function of gallbladder
Stores and concentrates bile
Function of small intestine in digestion
Final stages of chemical digestion and nutrient absorption
Function of the Large intestine in digestion
Water absorption, bacterial fermentation and formation of faeces
What are the 4 distinctive layers of the alimentary canal
- Mucosa: epithelium, lamina propria, muscularis mucosa
- Submucosa
- Muscularis externa
- Serosa/adventitia
What type of epithelium is present in the mouth, oesophagus, and anal canal
Stratified squamous
What type of epithelium is present in stomach, small and large intestine
Simple columnar
What is Lamina propria
Loose connective tissue (glands, blood/lymph vessels)
What is Muscularis mucosa
Thin smooth muscle layer
What is Submucosa
Thick, irregular connective tissue which supports mucosa
What is serosa / adventitia
Connective tissue outer layer of alimentary canal
What does serosa do outside the peritoneal cavity
Attaches oesophagus and rectum to surrounding structures
What does serosa do inside the peritoneal cavity
Surrounds stomach, small intestine and large intestine
What is muscularis external
Two concentric thick layers of smooth muscle:
Inner layer = circular muscle (constricts lumen)
Outer layer = longitudinal muscle (shortens tube)
Where is the myenteric plexus
Between circular and longitudinal muscle
What do the submucosal and myenteric plexus make
enteric nervous system (ENS) = independent control of gut function
Nervous control of alimentary function:
Long Parasympathetic
1.What nerve and 2.how does it affect secretion and motility
- Vagus nerve ( except salivation)
2. Increase secretion and motility
What are SHORT ENS reflexes
Just within the gut wall itself - CNS not involved in processes
Sympathetic control:
1. What nerve and 2. How does it affect secretion and motility
Inhibitory (except salivation)
- splanchnic nerve
- decreases secretion and motility
Arterial supply to GI tract:
Celiac trunk supplies what structures?
Stomach
Small intestine
Pancreas
Liver
Superior mesenteric artery supplies what structures?
Small intestine
Caecum
Ascending colon
Transverse colon
Inferior mesenteric artery supplies what structures
Descending colon
Sigmoid colon
Rectum
Venous drainage from GI tract:
Where does the stomach drain to
Gastric veins - hepatic portal vein - hepatic vein - IVC
Where does the pancreas drain to
Splenic vein - hepatic portal vein - hepatic vein - IVC
Where do the small intestine, caecum, ascending colon and transverse colon drain to
Superior mesenteric vein - hepatic portal vein - hepatic vein - IVC
Where do the descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectum drain to
Inferior mesenteric vein - hepatic portal vein - hepatic vein - IVC
What 2 sugars make lactose and what enzyme is involved
glucose and galactose
enzyme = lactase
What 2 sugars make sucrose and what enzyme is involved
glucose and fructose
enzyme = sucrase
What 2 sugars make maltose and what enzyme is involved
Glucose and Glucose
enzyme = maltase
What 2 sugars have a-1,4 glycosidic bonds
starch
glycogen
What sugar has B-1,4 glycosidic bonds
cellulose
Where is the brush border and what does it do
In the apical membrane
Increasing surface area
What do proteases or peptidases do
Enzymes which hydrolyse peptide bonds and reduce proteins or peptides to amino acids
What do endopeptidase act on
The interior of the protein
What do exopeptidase act on
On the terminal amino acids - getting one shorter each time - can work at either end
What is NHE3
hydrogen and sodium exchange
roughly 70% of protein in diet comes in this way
Almost all ingested fat is in the form of what
Triacylglycerol (insoluble in water)
All fat digestion in small intestine is by what
Pancreatic lipase
What is lipase
Water-soluble enzyme
What is emulsification
dividing large droplets into smaller droplets.
What does emulsification require
mechanical disruption
emulsifying agent
bile salts and phospholipids
amphipathic molecules
What are micelles
similar to emulsion droplets but much smaller
= bile salt + monoglycerides +fatty acids + phospholipid
Describe micelle breakdown
Release of small amounts of free fatty acids and monoglycerides into solution - diffusion across plasma membrane of absorbing cells
Dynamic equilibrium between fatty acids and monoglycerides in solution and in micelles does what?
retains most of fat digestion products in solution while constantly replenishing supply of free molecules for absorption
What is a chylomicron
Extracellular fat droplet - contain phospholipid, cholesterol and fat soluble vitamins.
How do chylomicrons travel
Pass into lacteals between endothelial cells
How are triacylglycerol droplets transported through the cell
In vesicles formed from Smooth endoplasmic reticulum - processed through golgi apparatus and exocytosed into extracellular fluid at serosal membrane
What are the fat soluble vitamins
And how are they absorbed
A,D,E,K
Follow same absorptive path as fat
What are the water soluble vitamins
and how are they absorbed
B group, C and folic acid
Absorbed by passive diffusion or carrier - mediated transport
What is Vitamin B-12 and what does it bind to in the stomach
Large charged molecule
Binds to intrinsic factor in stomach to form complex which is absorbed via specific transport mechanism in distal ileum
Where is iron transported
Across brush border membrane (via DMT1) into duodenal enterocytes
Where is unbound iron transported
Across serosal membrane to the blood
What does iron in blood bind to
Transferrin
How is ferritin expression regulated
Body iron status
What is hyperaemia
Increased ferritin levels - more iron bound in enterocytes
What is anaemia
Decreased ferritin levels - more iron released to blood
Why do we chew
Prolong taste
defence against resp failure
How is chewing controlled
- Voluntary - somatic nerves - skeletal muscles of mouth and jaw
- Reflex - contraction of jaw muscles - pressure of food against gums, hard palate and tongue - mechanoreceptors - inhibition of jaw muscles - reduced pressure - contraction…
Saliva is secreted by which 3 pairs of glands
Parotid
Submandibular
Sublingual
What is in saliva and what does each component do
- Water - 99% of secreted fluid. Softens, moistens, dilutes particles. solvent
- Mucins - major protein component. Mucins + water = mucus. viscous solution - lubricant function
- a - Amylase - catalyses breakdown of polysaccharide (starch, glycogen) into disaccharide (maltose) + glucose
- Electrolytes - tonicity / pH
- Lysozyme - bactericida - cleaves polysaccharide component of bacterial cell wall
How is salivary secretion controlled - parasympathetic
Cranial nerves VII (facial) and IX (glossopharyngeal)
stimulation - profuse watery salivary secretion
How is salivary secretion controlled - sympathetic
Stimulation - small vol, viscous salivary secretion high mucus content (a1 adrenoreceptors)
high amylase content (B2 adrenoreceptors)
How is salivary secretion controlled - Reflex control
Presence of food in mouth - chemoreceptors / pressure receptors (wall of mouth/tongue)
What do upper and lower oesophageal sphincters regulate
movement of material into and out of oesophagus
Muscularis externa is split into upper and lower - how is it split?
Upper 1/3 (superior) = skeletal muscle
Lower 2/3 (inferior) = smooth muscle