PBL Topic 4 Case 2 Flashcards
Identify three motor functions of the stomach
- Storage of food until it can be processed
- Mixing of food with gastric secretions to form chyme
- Emptying chyme into small intestine at a suitable rate
What are the orad and caudad portions of the stomach?
- Orad: First third of stomach
- Caudad: Second two thirds of stomach
What is the role of the vagovagal reflex?
- Reduction of muscle tone in the stomach wall
- To accommodate greater quantities of food
What is the maximum quantity of the stomach in litres?
- 1.5 L
Which nucleus in the brain is responsible for the vagovagal reflex and where is this nucleus located?
- Dorsal vagal nucleus
- Medulla oblongata
Which region of the stomach possesses the fewest gastric glands
- Lesser curvature
What are mixing waves and what causes them?
- Weak peristaltic constrictor waves
- Caused by gut wall basic electrical rhythm from slow waves
How do mixing waves change throughout the stomach? What is the effect of this on the antral contents?
- They become progressively more powerful towards the antrum
- Forcing antral contents under increasing pressure towards the pylorus
What is retropulsion? What is its cause and function?
- Contraction of pyloric muscle impedes emptying through the pylorus
- Causing antral contents to be squeezed upstream towards the body
- Increased mixing of contents with gastric juices
What is chyme?
- Mixture of food, stomach secretions and water following mixing
What are hunger contractions?
- Intense stomach contraction when the stomach has been empty for several hours
- Which may result in mild pain in the stomach (pangs)
What are hunger pangs? When do they occur and when are they most intense?
- Mild pain in the stomach from hunger contractions
- Which big 12-24 hours after the last ingestion of food
- Reaching their greatest intensity in 3-4 days
Outline the process of stomach emptying
- Caused by ringlike constrictions
- That begin progressively farther up the stomach as it empties
- Food passes through the pyloric sphincter when it been thoroughly mixing
Outline the nervous regulation of stomach emptying
- Increased food volume in the stomach causes stretching of the stomach
- Which elicits local myenteric reflexes resulting in increased activity of the pyloric pump and inhibition of the pylorus
Outline the hormonal regulation of stomach emptying
- Increased volume in the stomach causing stretching fo the stomach
- Which elicits release of gastrin from G cells of the pyloric antrum
- Which secreted highly acidic gastric juice, and enhances activity of the pyloric pump
Identify the two duodenal mechanisms to inhibit stomach emptying
- Inhibit the pyloric pump
- Increase the tone of the pyloric sphincter
Identify five factors that are continually monitored that can cause enterogastric inhibitory reflexes
- Degree of distension
- Irritation of the mucosa
- Acidity (pH<4.0)
- Osmolality (hypotonic or hypertonic)
- Presence of breakdown products (breakdown products of protein)
Identify 3 nervous pathways from the duodenum to the stomach that result in reflex inhibition of the stomach
- From duodenum to stomach via local myenteric nerves
- Extrinsic nerves from duodenum to prevertebral ganglia and then to stomach through inhibitory sympathetic nerves
- Vagus nerves to the brainstem where they inhibit excitatory signals via the vagus nerve
Identify the role of CCK in gastric emptying
- Fat extracts bind to receptors on duodenal epithelium
- Which causes release of CCK
- Which inhibit the pyloric pump and increase the tone of the pyloric sphincter (reverse of gastrin)
What are secretin and gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) in response to?
- Secretin is released from duodenum in response to gastric acid
- GIP is release in upper intestine in response to fat
Identify two functions of secretory glands in the GI tract
- Release of digestive enzymes
- Release of mucus for lubrication and protection
Identify two types of nervous stimulation to GI Tract glands
- Enteric nervous stimulation
- Parasympathetic stimulation
Outline how the material for secretion is formed?
- Nutrients diffuse into glandular cell from blood
- ATP from mitochondria combines with nutrients to synthesise product
- Which is transported through endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi complex for modification and storage in vesicles
- Release of vesicles in response to nervous or hormonal stimulation
Outline the role of calcium ions in glandular secretions
- Causes vesicles to fuse with apical cell membrane
- Allowing apical cell to break open and empty vesicle by exocytosis
What is the importance of water and electrolytes in relation to glandular cells
- Causes cell to swell
- Resulting in minute openings of the secretory border of the cell
Outline the process by which water and electrolytes enter the glandular cell
- Active transport of chloride ions into cell
- Resulting electronegativity causes inward diffusion of sodium ions
- Increased osmotic force (hypotonic solution) causes inward osmosis of water
What is mucus composed of?
- Glycoproteins e.g. mucin
- Water
- Electrolytes
Identify 5 characteristics of mucus that make it an excellent lubricant and protectant
- Adheres to food
- Coats gut wall
- Slides along epithelium with ease
- Causes adherence of faecal particles to form faeces
- Resists digestion
- Buffer acids and alkali due to mucin (amphoteric properties ) bicarbonate ions neutralise acids
Outline the effect of prostaglandins on mucus production
- PGE2 and PGI2
- Act on EP4 receptors on mucus secreting cells to increase mucus production
Outline the effect of prostaglandins on bicarbonate production
- PGE2 and PGI2
- Act on EP1/2 receptors on foveolar cells to increase bicarbonate production
What do oxyntic glands secrete and where are they located?
- Secrete HCl, pepsinogen, intrinsic factor and mucus
- Proximal 80% of stomach (body and fundus)
What do pyloric glands secrete and where are they located?
- Secrete mucus and gastrin
- Distal 20% of stomach (antral portion)
Identify 3 cell types of oxyntic glands and what each type secretes
- Neck cells: mucus
- Chief cells: pepsinogen
- Parietal cells: HCl + intrinsic factor
How many millimoles / L of HCl is secreted by oxyntic parietal cells and what is the pH?
- 160 mmol / L
- pH = 0.8
What are canaliculi? Which cell type possesses them and what is their function?
- Extensive branching network
- Found in parietal cells
- Through which HCl is conducted to secretory end of cell
Outline the initial step of HCl formation that results in an electronegativity of -55 mV
- Active transport of chloride ions into canaliculi from cytoplasm
- Active transport of sodium ions into cytoplasm from canaliculi
Outline the step of HCl secretion that occurs in response to the electronegativity of -55 mV
- Negativity causes diffusion of potassium and sodium ions into canaliculi from cytoplasm
Outline the initial step of HCl formation that involves the proton pump and osmosis
- Water dissociates into hydrogen and hydroxyl ions
- Hydrogen is actively secreted into canaliculus in exchange for potassium ions
- Catalysed by H+K+ATPase
- Resulting in osmosis of water
- Sodium is reabsorbed into extracellular fluid through a separate pump
Identify 3 hormones that stimulates secretion by the proton pump and one that inhibits it
- Stimulate: Gastrin, ACh, histamine (secretagogue)
- Inhibit: Somatostatin
Outline the initial step of HCl formation that involves carbon dioxide
- Metabolism of parietal produces CO2
- Which reacts with hydroxyl ion to form bicarbonate ion
- This reaction is catalysed by carbonic anhydrase
- Bicarbonate diffuses into extracellular fluid in exchange for chloride ions (and cycle repeats itself)
Outline the process of secretion and activation of pepsinogen.
- Secreted by chief cells of oxyntic glands
- Activated by HCl to form pepsin
What is the optimum pH range for pepsin?
- pH = 1.8 - 3.5
What is the role of intrinsic factor?
- Absorption of B12 in the ileum
Identify a condition that results in achlorhydria and pernicious anaemia?
- Gastritis
How does the cellular composition of pyloric glands differ to that of oxyntic glands?
- Contains few chief and parietal cells
- Possesses large amounts of mucus cells
- Which are involved in lubrication of food and protecting stomach wall from gastric enzymes
Identify two characteristics of the mucus secreted by foveolar / surface mucus cells
- Viscid: Thick gel layer of mucus provides a shell of protection for stomach wall
- Alkaline: Neutralises any acid that comes into contact with stomach wall
Where are enterochromaffin-like cells (ECL cells) located and what do they secrete?
- Deep recesses of oxyntic glands
- Secrete histamine in direct contact with the parietal cells of the gland
Identify the biochemical effect of ECL cell release
- Histamine acts in a paracrine fashion on H2 receptors on parietal cells
- Which elevates cAMP and activates secretion of H+ ions
Identify two ways in which histamine release from ECL cells can be increased
- Hormonal secretion of gastrin
- Neural stimulation from ACh
Which cells secrete gastrin and where are they located?
- G cells
- Located in pyloric glands in anturm
Identify the two forms of gastrin and which is most abundant
- G34 and G17 (most abundant)
Identify the biochemical effect of gastrin on ECL cells
- Acts on CCK2 receptors on ECL cells
- Which increases histamine release
Identify a drug that inhibits gastrin action
- Proglumide
Identify two factors that regulate pepsinogen secretion
- Stimulation of peptic cells by ACh from vagus nerves or from enteric nervous plexus
- Stimulation of peptic cells in response to stomach acid
Outline the cephalic stage of gastric secretion and what percentage of gastric secretion it accounts for
- Sight, smell, thought or taste of food
- Increases activity in appetite centres of hypothalamus (e.g. lateral hypothalamic feeding centre)
- Signals are transmitted through dorsal motor nuclei and through vagus nerves to stomach
- 20%
Outline the gastric stage of gastric secretion and what percentage of gastric secretion it accounts for
- Food enters stomach
- Excites long vagovagal reflex, local enteric reflexes and the gastric mechanism
- All of which increase gastric juice secretion
- 70%
Outline the intestinal stage of gastric secretion and what percentage of gastric secretion it accounts for
- Presence of food in duodenum
- Causes stomach to secrete gastric juice
- In response to gastrin released by duodenal mucosa
- 10%
What is the purpose of the reverse enterogastric reflex?
- Slow passage of chyme from stomach
- When small intestine is filled / overactive
Outline the reverse enterogastric reflex
- Signals transmitted through myenteric plexus, extrinsic sympathetic fibres and vagus nerves
- To inhibit stomach secretion
Identify three causes of the reverse enterogastric reflex
- Distension of small intestine
- Presence of protein and fat breakdown products
- Irritation of mucosa
- Acid
- Hypertonic/hypotonic fluids
Outline the effect of somatostatin on gastric secretion
- Paracrine inhibitory actions on gastrin release from G cells, histamine release from ECL cells
- By acting on its SST2 receptor
Outline the effect of ACh on somatostatin release and the subsequent effect of this
- Acts on D cells
- To inhibit somatostatin release
- To increase parietal cell acid secretion
Outline the effect of PGE2 and PGI2 on gastric output
- Reduces gastric output
- By acting on EP2/3 receptors on ECL cells
- To reduce histamine release which in turns reduces H+ secretion
Outline the gastric secretions that occurs during the interdigestive phase
- Mainly mucus secretion
- Emotional stimuli can also increase peptic and acidic secretion
Outline the chemical composition of gastrin
- Molecular weight of 2400
- Functional activity resides in terminal four amino acids
What is pentagastrin and its clinical uses
- Synthetic gastrin
- Composed of terminal four amino acids plus the amino acid alanine
- Given parenterally as a diagnostic aid of gastric acid function (e.g. achlorhydria, pernicious anaemia. gastric carcinoma)