Lecture 22- Digestion Flashcards
What type of organisms must ingest food?
Heterotrophs- must ingest food, cannot fix carbon
What are the 4 stages of food processing?
- Ingestion
- Digestion
- Absorption
- Elimination
Ingestion (basic)
Food-> digestive cavity
Digestion (basic)
Macromolecules -> monomers- can be absorbed
Mechanical, chemical
Absorption (basic)
Cells take up small molecules
Elimination (basic)
Undigested material passed out of digestive system
Location of Digestion. Enzymes hydrolyze tissue- how do you digest food without digesting yourself?
2 methods- Intracellular digestion and extracellular digestion
Intracellular digestion- food vacuoles fuse with lysosomes
Extracellular digestione- digestion in extracellular component
Continuous with outside of body
Peristalsis
Waves of contractions in smooth muscle
Moves food
Sphincters
Ring-like, muscular valves (circular muscles)
Regulate passage between compartments
Before Ingestion
Digestive process triggered in NS
Stimulation of salivary glands
Food Processing prior to Stomach in Oral cavity
Oral cavity (mouth)- Ingestion, early digestion
Mechanical- teeth
Chemical- salivary amylase
Starch, glycogen-> smaller polysaccharides, maltose
Mucus- contains mucins- slippery glycoproteins
Tongue- moves food, forms bolus
Pharynx
Passage to digestive and respiratory systems
Swallowing: Bolus-> esophageal sphincter-> esophagus
Esophagus
Muscular tube connecting pharynx-> stomach
Bolus-> stomach via peristalsis
Cardiac sphincter: Junction with stomach
Controlled by smooth muscle ring
Cardiac Sphincter
Junction with stomach
Controlled by smooth muscle ring
Stomach
Highly elastic, 2L capacity
Can store meal, don’t need to eat constantly
Lining replaced every 3 days
Mechanical Breakdown
As you chew, your teeth break down the food into smaller pieces, increasing surface area for better enzyme action.
Chemical Breakdown
Throughout chewing, salivary glands located around the mouth secrete saliva.
What do saliva contain?
Salivary amylase and mucus
Function of salivary amylase
Breaks down starch and glycogen into smaller polysaccharides like maltose.
Function of mucus
This lubricating substance contains muffins- slippery glycoproteins- that coat the food particles, making swallowing easier and protecting the mouth lining from irritation.
Function of tongue
The tongue moves food around, ensuring thorough mixing with saliva and facilitating grinding by the teeth.
Bolus formation: The tongue shapes and compacts the chewed food particles (along with saliva) into a moistened mass called a bolus.
Passage of the bolus after ingestion through oral cavity (Oral cavity-stomach)
During swallowing, the bolus moves from the mouth to the pharynx which is the passage to both digestive and respiratory systems. The bolus goes to the esophageal sphincter, which is a muscular ring that relaxes to allow the bolus to pass through to the esophagus. The bolus is then propelled down the esophagus, a muscular tube connecting the pharynx to the stomach, by a wave-like motion called peristalsis. This involuntary muscle contraction helps move the food down the esophagus. The cardiac sphincter is the junction with the stomach controlled by smooth muscle ring that opens and allows the bolus to enter the stomach.
Stomach Lining
Has many pits- tubular gastric glands
These glands produce and secrete gastric juices.
What are the three types of gastric juices produced by the tubular gastric glands in the stomach lining?
Mucuous cells, chief cells, parietal cells.
What is the function of mucous cells in the stomach lining?
Secrete mucus.
Mucus serves a protective role. It coats the stomach lining, shielding it from the harsh acidic environment created by the parietal cells.
What is the function of chief cells in the stomach lining?
Secrete pepsinogen-inactive precursor of pepsin.
These cells produce an inactive enzyme called pepsinogen. Pepsinogen isn’t an active enzyme. It needs a slightly acidic environment for activation. Once activated by the acidic environment created by the parietal cells, pepsinogen becomes pepsin, the stomach’s primary digestive enzyme. Pepsin breaks down proteins in food into smaller peptides.
What is the function of parietal cells in the stomach lining?
Pump H+ into lumen, Cl- diffuses out-> HCl
These cells have a special pump that actively pumps H+ into the stomach lumen from the bloodstream. As H+ ions are pumped in, Cl- passively diffuses out of the parietal cells to maintain electrical neutrality. This creates a high concentration of H+ ions in the stomach lumen, resulting in the formation of hydrochloric acid (HCl).
Function of HCl
Creates a highly acidic environment in the stomach (pH ~2) to kill or inhibit growth of bacteria in food.
Denatures proteins (more accessible to digestive enzymes)
Converts pepsinogen-> pepsin: Main digestive enzyme.
(Once pepsin is activated, it acts as an endopeptidase. This means it can break down proteins into smaller polypeptides.
What is an endopeptidase?
When pepsinogen is converted into pepsin by HCl, it becomes the main digestive enzyme. Pepsin acts as an endopeptidase, meaning that it breaks down proteins into smaller polypeptides.
What are the three steps associated with the production of gastric juice?
- Pepsinogen and HCl secreted into lumen.
- HCl converts pepsinogen to pepsin.
- Pepsin activates more pepsinogen, starting a chain reaction.
What is chyme composed of?
End product when leaving stomach. Consistency of thick soup, pH ~2.
Mixture of…
- Partially digested carbs
- Small polypeptides
- Undigested material
Where does chyme leave from and go to?
Exits from stomach-> pyloric sphincter-> small intestine
What are the three divisions of the small intestine?
~6m long, “small” diameter
3 divisions
Duodenum: Where most chemical digestion occurs
Jejunum: Between duodenum, ileum
Ileum: Lower portion
Process of food through oral cavity- stomach
Mechanical + chemical breakdown in oral cavity
Tongue forms bolus
Bolus moves from the mouth to the pharynx (passage to digestive and respiratory systems)
Bolus goes to the esophageal sphincter, which is a muscular ring that relaxes to allow the bolus to pass through to the esophagus. The bolus is then propelled down the esophagus, a muscular tube connecting the pharynx to the stomach, by a wave-like motion called peristalsis. This involuntary muscle contraction helps move the food down the esophagus. The cardiac sphincter is the junction with the stomach controlled by smooth muscle ring that opens and allows the bolus to enter the stomach.
What is the function of HCl?
Makes a highly acidic environment (pH of stomach ~2)
Acts as an antimicrobial- kills bacteria in food, helps prevent food borne illness.
Denatures proteins, making them more accessible to enzymes.
Activates pepsin, the main protein digesting enzyme.
Allows pepsin to break down proteins into smaller polypeptides.
Once activated, pepsin acts as what?
An endopeptidase. This means it can break down proteins into smaller polypeptides.
What is chyme?
Consistency of thick soup, pH ~2
Mixture of…
- Partially digested carbs
- Small polypeptides
- Undigested material
Where does chyme go when it leaves the stomach?
Stomach-> pyloric sphincter-> small intestine
What are the 3 divisions of the small intestine?
~6m long, “small” diameter
3 divisions
Duodenum: Where most chemical digestion occurs
Jejunum: Between duodenum, ileum
Ileum: Lower portion
Digestion of Carbohydrates- what are they broken down into, where are they broken down, and what breaks them down
Carbohydrates- poly, disaccharides-> monosaccharides
Oral cavity- salivary amylase
Small intestine- pancreatic amylase, disaccharidases
Think -amylase, -ridase