Lecture 10 - Proteins part 2 Flashcards
What are the four places that protein digestion occurs in?
mouth, stomach, pancreas, small intestine
How does protein digestion occur in the mouth?
- no enzymatic digestion (unlike TAGS and carbs)
- mechanical breakdown into smaller protein molecules
How does protein digestion occur in the stomach?
- HCl secreted from parietal cells in the gut go into gastric juice denatures the proteins
- pepsin (endopeptidase) enzyme is secreted as pepsinogen, which is an inactive zymogen
How does protein digestion occur in the pancreas?
- pancreatic juice containing zymogens (inactive digestive enzymes) which break down polypeptide chain in a step-wise manner
How does protein digestion occur in the small intestine?
- zymogens are activated
- enzymes break-down peptides
- absorption of AAs
How is HCl secretion into the gut regulated?
by gastrin, acetycholine and histamine - hormones
What are the two functions of HCl in protein digestion?
- denatures proteins - disrupts hydrogen bonds and electrostatic bonds in 2nd 3rd and 4th structures
- activates pepsin
What are some characteristics of pepsin in protein digestion in the stomach?
- active in an acidic pH, inactive at a neutral pH
- HCl causes a conformational change in pepsinogen, allowing it to then autoactivate itself
- pepsin is an endopeptidase, it cleaves peptide bonds within a polypeptide chain
- generates mostly oligopeptide and some free AAs
How does a zymogen become an active enzyme?
zymogen goes through a proteolytic cleavage to become an active enzyme
What is the steps to protein digestion in the small intestine?
- In the pancreas, trypsinogen (zymogen) goes to SI and is converted to trypsin (enzyme) via an enteropeptidase located in the brush border of the SI, trypsin then activates other zymogens (chymotrypsinogen, proelastase, procarboxypeptidases)
- in the pancreas, chymotrypsinogen, proelastase, and procarboxypeptidase A&B (zymogens) go to the SI and are converted to
- chymotrypsinogen -> chymotrypsin
- proelastase -> elastase
- procarboxypeptidases ->
carboxypeptidase
- in the stomach, aminopeptidase (enzyme made in stomach) goes to SI and facilitates cleavage of peptides
- in the stomach, free AAs and small peptides (oligopeptide) go to SI to be broken down
Where are AA absorbed?
in the upper small intestine
What are the two ways that AA are absorbed?
- facilitated diffusion: does not require Na+ or ATP, will not concentrate against gradient, AA goes through intestinal cell membrane
- active transport (>60% of AAs are absorbed this way): Na dependent, requires ATP, concentrate against gradient
- sodium-dependent transporter (indirect ATP requirement)
What are some characteristics of AA absorption?
- essential AAs may be absorbed faster than non-essential AAs
- competition for absorption exists between the AAs
- free AAs have no absorptive advantage over AAs in foods
What is the transporter required for active transport of proteins?
PEPT1 - peptide transporter 1
What is the fate of AA once they have reached the small intestine?
AAs are either transported out of hte intestinal cell or used directly within the enterocyte for:
1. energy: intestinal cells are being sloughed off, replenish dead cells
2. synthesis of new protein
What percentage of essential AAs are used in SI?
30-40%
What is glutamine used in intestinal enterocytes for?
- generate energy for the cell
- stimulate cell proliferation (to replace shed enterocytes)
- increase synthesis of heat shock proteins (chaperones)
- drive mucus production, which helps to prevent bacterial translocation
Where does AA metabolism take place?
The liver takes up AA for circulation
What does the liver use AAs for?
20% of the AA are used to:
- make new proteins/enzymes: albumin and other transport proteins
- make peptide hormones
80% of the other AA are catabolized:
- NH2 sent to the urea cycle
- carbon skeleton sent to kreb’s cycle (for energy) or used for gluconeogenesis or lipogenesis