Lecture 24 Flashcards
Motility and mechanical digestion
What is the overall function of the GIT?
To bring nutrients and water into the internal environment to be used by the body
What are the four major functions of the GIT?
Motility, secretion, digestion, absorption
What is the motility function of the GIT?
The movement of food to chyme within the GIT caused by contraction and relaxation of smooth and skeletal muscle
What is the secretion function of the GIT?
To release fluid, mucus, acid, bicarbonate and digestive enzymes from epithelial cells or accessory organs into the lumen of the GIT
What is the digestion function of the GIT?
To break food and nutrient into smaller parts
What are the two types of digestion?
Mechanical and chemical
What is mechanical digestion?
Physically breaking food into smaller pieces
What is the form of mechanical digestion in the mouth
Chewing
What is the form of mechanical digestion in the stomach?
Retropulsion
What is chemical digestion?
Breaking nutrients into smaller molecules through bond breaking
How does chemical digestion occur?
Using acid and digestive enzymes
What is the absorption function of the GIT?
The net movement of substances from the lumen of the GIT, across the epithelial lining of the intestine, into the interstitial fluid and then into the blood or lymph
What are the regulators of the GIT?
The receptors in the walls on the GIT
What are the two receptors in the GIT?
Mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors
What activates the mechanoreceptors?
The stretch from food/chyme in the lumen
What activates the chemoreceptors?
A change in the composition of the food - pH, osmolarity, amino acids, sugars, fat
What do the receptors activate?
The regulatory system
What are the two regulatory systems?
Nervous system and endocrine system (hormones)
What is the nervous systems response?
Fast responses and contains two reflex pathways for neural regulation
What are the two reflex pathways?
Local/short and CNS with the long reflex pathway
What is the component of the local/short reflex pathway?
The enteric nervous system only
What is the component of the CNS / long reflex pathwy?
CNS → ENS / ENS → CNS → ENS respectively
What is the ENS?
The nervous system of the GIT, totally self-contained and can function independently of the CNS. Contains submucosal plexus and myenteric plexuses
Where is the submucosal plexus and what does it control?
Just under the mucosa, to regulate secretion
Where is the myenteric plexus and what does it control?
Between layers of smooth muscle, to regulate motility
What are the two components of the CNS?
The parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems
What does the PNS control?
The ‘rest and digest’ aspect. This increased the overall activity of the GIT by activating the ENS. It stimulates motility and secretion
What does the SNS control?
The ‘fight, flight or freeze’ aspect. This decreases the overall activity of the GIT by inhibiting the ENS. It inhibits motility and secretion
What is the endocrine systems response?
Slower, but longer lasting responses and can affect multiple pasts of the GIT at once
What is the special name for the endocrine cells in the ENS?
Enteroendocrine cells
What are the four important GIT hormones?
Gastrin, secretin, CCK and GIP
What effectors do these regulatory systems change the activity of in the GIT?
Smooth muscle cells and gland / secretory cells
What is the function of the local and short reflex pathway?
To return the lumen of the GIT back to its resting state