How the digestive system works Flashcards
The digestive system is one of the most diverse and complicated systems in the human body. How many cells does the system contain?
20 specialized cell types
a twisting channel that transports food and has an internal surface area of between 30 and 40 square meters, what is this?
gastrointestinal tract
a trio of organs that break down food using an array of special juices.
pancreas, gallbladder, and liver.
they work together to break down food, modulate the digestive process, and deliver its final products.
the body’s enzymes, hormones, nerves, and blood.
a large stretch of tissue that supports and positions all your digestive organs in the abdomen, enabling them to do their jobs.
mesentery
this thing in your mouth pumps out saliva
glands
how many liters of saliva do we produce each day?
1.5 liters
once the food is in the mouth, chewing combines with the sloshing of saliva to turn food into a moist lump called the?
bolus
this thing present in the saliva will break down any starch.
enzymes
food will travel down of a 25-centimeter-long tube called the?
esophagus
nerves in the surrounding esophageal tissue sense the bolus’s presence and trigger?
peristalsis
hormones, secreted by cells in the lining, trigger the?
release of acids and enzyme-rich juices
these hormones also alert the _ to produce digestive juices and transfer bile, a yellowish-green liquid that digests fat
pancreas, liver, and gallbladder
after three hours inside the stomach, the once shapely bolus is now a frothy liquid called?
chyme
the liver sends bile to the gallbladder, which secretes it into the first portion of the small intestine called the?
duodenum
it dissolves the fats floating in the slurry of chyme so it can be easily digested by the pancreatic acid and intestinal juices that leached onto the scene, what is this?
duodenum
the _ break the fat molecules down into the fatty acids and glycerol for easier absorption into the body.
enzyme-rich juices
the enzymes also carry out the final deconstruction of proteins into amino acids, carbohydrates into?
glucose
this happens in the small intestine’s lower regions, the _, which are coated in millions of tiny projections called the villi.
jejunum and ileum
leftover _ sloughed off during digestion make it into the large intestine, also known as the colon.
fiber, water, and dead cells.
the body drains out most of the remaining fluid through the?
intestinal wall
what’s left is a soft mass called?
stool
the colon squeezes out this byproduct into a pouch called the?
rectum
the byproducts of digestion exit through the?
anus
