Lecture 2: "A Gut Feeling" Flashcards
Digestive tract anatomy, gut motility and peristalsis, control of gut motility, enteric nervous system, blood flow
What is the basic structure of the digestive tract?
A muscle lined tube
How many layers of the digestive tract are there?
Five
What are the five layers of the digestive tract?
Serosa, longitudinal smooth muscle, circular smooth muscle, submucosa, and mucosa.
What is the serosa?
The outermost fibrous coating
What is the longitudinal smooth muscle?
Outermost muscle layer that runs the entire length of the gut.
The cells of the longitudinal smooth muscle form a:
Functional syncytium; a single functional cell due to gap junctions. They behave like they’re all one cell.
The functional syncytium allows for:
easy conduction of contraction signals down the intestinal tract.
What is circular smooth muscle?
The bundles of smooth muscle that encircle the tube. Lies underneath the longitudinal smooth muscle layer
What does the circular smooth muscle allow for?
Pinching tight contractions at specific points along the gut wall.
The submucosa is
the bulk of the gut wall.
What is the mucosa?
The absorptive surface/secretory innermost layer of the gut wall.
