Human Physiology Flashcards
Alimentary Canal
An alimentary canal is a group of organs through which food actually passes (oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine)
What is the oesophagus?
- A hollow tube connecting the oral cavity to the stomach
- Epiglottis separates the oesophagus from the trachea
- Food is moved in a bolus via the action of peristalsis
What is the stomach?
- Temporary storage tank where food is mixed by churning and protein digestion begins
- The pH of the gastric juices released by the stomach is around 2
What is the small intestine?
- Long, highly folded tube where usable food substances (nutrients) are absorbed
- Small intestine consists of three sections: the duodenum, jejunum and ileum
What is the large intestine?
- Large intestine is the final section of the alimentary canal, where water and dissolved minerals (i.e. ions) are absorbed.
- sections that make up the large intestine are the ascending / transverse / descending / sigmoidal colon, as well as the rectum
Accessory Organs
Accessory organs aid in digestion but do not actually transfer food
What are the salivary glands?
- release saliva to moisten food and contain enzymes
- three salivary glands are the parotid gland, submandibular gland and sublingual gland
What is the pancreas?
- pancreas produces a broad spectrum of enzymes that are released into the small intestine via the duodenum
- pancreas secretes certain hormones (insulin, glucagon), which regulate blood sugar concentrations
What does the liver do?
- takes the raw materials absorbed by the small intestine and uses them to make key chemicals
- roles of the liver include detoxification, storage, metabolism, bile production and haemoglobin breakdown
Gall Bladder:
- gall bladder stores the bile produced by the liver (bile salts are used to emulsify fats)
- Bile stored in the gall bladder is released into the small intestine via the common bile duct
Chewing (Mouth)
- initially broken down in the mouth by the grinding action of teeth
- tongue pushes the food towards the back of the throat, where it travels down the esophagus as a bolus
- epiglottis prevents the bolus from entering the trachea, while the uvula prevents the bolus from entering the nasal cavity
Churning (Stomach)
- stomach lining contains muscles which physically squeeze and mix the food with strong digestive juices
- Food turns into creamy paste called chyme
- chyme enters the small intestine
Peristalsis
The movement of food through the alimentary canal via contraction and relaxation of longitudinal smooth muscle
Segmentation
The contraction and relaxation of non-adjacent segments of circular smooth muscle in the intestines to mix food with digestive juices
Chemical Digestion
food is broken down by the action of chemical agents.
Stomach Acids
- the acidic environment (pH 2) is to Denature proteins and other macromolecules, aiding in digestion
- the mucous membrane in the stomach epithelium prevent acids from damaging the gastric lining
- Pancreas release alkaline compounds to neutralize the acids in the intestine
Bile
- Fluid produced in the liver stored in the gall bladder
- Bile salts interact with fat globules (lipids) and divide them into smaller droplets (emulsification) to help increases the total surface area available for enzyme activity
Enzymes
Biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions
Small Intestine
The small intestine absorbs usable food substances
Large Intestine
The large intestine absorbs water and dissolved minerals
Structure of the small intestine
- Serosa – a protective outer covering composed of a layer of cells reinforced by fibrous connective tissue
- Muscle layer – outer layer of longitudinal muscle (peristalsis) and inner layer of circular muscle (segmentation)
- Submucosa – composed of connective tissue separating the muscle layer from the innermost mucosa
- Mucosa – a highly folded inner layer which absorbs material through its surface epithelium from the intestinal lumen
Villi
folded projections of the inner epithelial lining which help to increase surface area for absorption of the digested products.
MR SLIM (features of villi)
- Microvilli – Ruffling of epithelial membrane further increases surface area
- Rich blood supply – Dense capillary network rapidly transports absorbed products
- Single layer epithelium – Minimises diffusion distance between lumen and blood
- Lacteals – Absorbs lipids from the intestine into the lymphatic system
- Intestinal glands – Exocrine pits (crypts of Lieberkuhn) release digestive juices
- Membrane proteins – Facilitates transport of digested materials into epithelial cells
Villus Epithelium
- Tight Junctions - create an impermeable barrier and keep the digestive fluids separated to maintain a concentration gradient
- Microvilli - Increase Surface Area
- Mitochondria - Epithelial cells of intestinal villi will possess large numbers of mitochondria to provide ATP for active transport mechanisms
- Pinocytotic Vesicles - non-specific uptake of fluids and dissolved solutes
Absorption
- Tight junctions between epithelial cells occlude any gaps between cells – all monomers must cross the membrane
- Different monomers undertake different methods for crossing the apical and basolateral membranes
Types of Transport across membrane
- Secondary Active Transport
- Facilitated Diffusion
- Osmosis
- Simple Diffusion
Bulk Transport
Endocytosis is a process that creates internal vesicles containing extracellular material by invaginating the plasma membrane, which is energy-dependent. Pinocytosis in the intestines involves the formation of vesicles around fluid-containing dissolved materials, allowing the ingestion of materials en masse more quickly than via membrane proteins.
Maltose and Dextrin
- Both maltose and dextrin are digested by enzymes (maltase) which are fixed to the epithelial lining of the small intestine
- The hydrolysis of maltose / dextrin results in the formation of glucose monomers
Pancreas Functions in Starch Breakdown
They Produce amylase and hormones through exocrine glands (amylase) and endocrine glands (hormones)
Insulin and Glucagon in Blood Glucose Regulation
They help to regulate glucose concentrations in the bloodstream.
- Insulin is able to do this by increasing glycogen synthesis and storage in the liver and adipose tissues.
- glucagon is able to do this by limiting the synthesis and storage of glycogen by the liver and adipose tissues
Function of atria
Collect blood returning to the heart via veins and pass it on to the ventricles
function of the ventricles
Pump blood out of the heart at high pressure via arteries
What is the function of the left side of the heart?
Pump oxygenated blood around the body (systemic circulation) so it has ticker muscular walls
What is the function of the right side of the heart?
Pump deoxygenated blood to the lungs (pulmonary circulation)
function of arteries
- Convey blood at high pressure from the heart ventricles to the tissues of the body and lungs
- Luman is narrow with thick walls to allow for high-pressure movement without rupturing
- It contains an inner layer of muscle and elastic fibres (collagen) to help maintain pulse flow by contracting and stretching.
How does blood flow through arteries?
In repeated surges called pulses at a high pressure, which is maintained between pumps by muscle and elastic fibres
muscle fibres in arteries
form a rigid arterial wall to withstand high blood pressure and can contract to narrow the lumen to increase pressure
elastic fibres in arteries
allow the arterial wall to stretch and expand upon the flow of a pulse and help maintain arterial pressure between pump cycles through elastic recoil.
- Elastic recoil helped because it pushes the blood forward through the artery and maintains pressure between pump cycles.
Function of capillaries
- exchange materials at low pressure
- Arteries split into arterioles which in turn split into capillaries, decreasing arterial pressure as total vessel volume is increased and the branching helps to ensure the slow movement
- Capillaries pool into venules which collate into larger veins after material exchange has occurred
Capillary structure and location
- wall may be continuous with endothelial cells held together by tight junctions to limit the permeability of large molecules or sinusoidal and have open spaces between cells and be permeable to large molecules and cells (e.g. in liver)
- tissues specialised for absorption (e.g. intestines, kidneys), the capillary wall may be fenestrated (contains pores)
low-pressure blood flow in capillaries is because…
allows for maximal material exchange
Hydrostatic pressure in the Capillaries
- higher hydrostatic pressure at the arteriole end of the capillary forces material from the bloodstream into the tissue fluid
- lower hydrostatic pressure at the venule end of the capillary allows materials from the tissues to enter the bloodstream
Veins
collect the blood from the tissues and convey it at low pressure to the atria of the heart.
- Have a large lumen to maximize flood flow
- They have a thin wall containing less muscle and elastic fibres as blood is flowing at a very low pressure
- Has more valves to prevent backflow as the pressure is low
How do skeletal muscle groups help to facilitate blood flow
- When the skeletal muscles contract, they squeeze the vein and cause the blood to flow from the site of compression
- Veins typically run parallel to arteries, and a similar effect can be caused by the rhythmic arterial bulge created by a pulse