physiology/ pharmacology Flashcards
What is energy usually stored as?
primarily stored as fat
What is energy homeostasis?
process whereby energy is matched to energy expenditure over time
How do you calculate someone’s BMI?
what are the normal values?
BMI = weight (kg) divided by square of height up to BMI of 25 = thin or normal 25-30 = overweight 30-39= obese 40 or over = morbidly obese
What are the major factors contributing to obesity?
genetics - genes that make you susceptible to being fat
environment - unmask latent tendencies to develop obesity
Why is you are obese are you more susceptible to covid?
contain a lot of adipose tissue which contains the components for the virus to enter
Why is fat important? what does it do during prolonged illness?
energy storage, energy buffer during prolonged illness
Why is it sometimes difficult to lose weight?
your brain views the extra weight as normal and perceives dieting as a threat to the body’s survival
How does the CNS influence energy balance and body weight? behaviour, ANS and neuroendocrine
behaviour - feeding and physical activity
ANS activity - regulates energy expenditure
Neuroendocrine - secretion of hormones
where is the neural centre in the brain responsible for energy intake and body weight?
hypothalamus
What is the definition of satiation, satiety and adiposity
sensation of fullness during a meal, period of time between termination of one meal and initiation of next , the state of being obese
What are some satiation signals?
cholecystokinin = released in proportion to lipids and proteins in meal
glucagon like peptide - released in response to food ingestion
When does ghrelin increase and decrease
Ghrelin - increase before meals and decrease after meals
How is overall energy balance maintained?
- feedback loops: signals are sent and sensed in the hypothalamus act accordingly
What are the two hormones that report fat status to the brain?
leptin = made and released from fat cells insulin = made and released form pancreatic beta cells
How does leptin cause weight loss?
inhibits food intake and decreases body weight (deletion of this receptor causes obesity)
how does the drug orlistat work?
What also needs supplemented?
inhibits pancreatic lipase decreasing triglyceride absorption
need to vitamin supplements along with it
What is liraglutide used for?
treatment of type 2 diabetes but also causes weight loss
what is gastric bypass surgery used for? (high level of what in diabetes)
produces substantial weight loss - high level of complete resolution of type 2 diabetes
How does 2,4-dinitrophenol work?
Side effects?
Work on adaptive thermogenesis - increase energy expenditure
Can cause severe hyperthermia
how is current transferred between smooth muscle cells?
How is a synchronous wave produced?
- electrical gap junctions
- cells are depolarised at the same time causing a synchronous wave -
What are slow waves?
rhythmic patterns of membrane depolarisation that spread from cell to cell via gap junctions
What drives slow wave electrical activity?
Where are they located?
interstitial cells of Cajal - located between circular and longitudinal muscle layers (in a bridge like fashion)
When do slow waves cause contraction?
- slow wave amplitude is enough to reach a threshold and trigger a smooth muscle cell action potential (spike)
What does the slow wave amplitude reaching threshold depend upon? (knock on effect)
depolarise muscle cells rather than influence slow waves directly - ie shifts slow wave peak to threshold
What is peristalsis?
peristalsis (wave of relaxation followed by contraction that proceeds a short distance along the gut
What is segmentation in the GI tract?
where does it occur?
- (mixing) - rhythmic contractions of the circular muscle layer that mix and divide luminal contents
- occurs in the small intestine
colonic mass movement ?
powerful sweeping contraction that forces faeces into rectum
What are sphincters?
one way valves by maintaining a positive resting pressure
What is the role of upper O sphincter, lower O, pyloric, ileocaecal
skeletal muscle - relaxes to allow swallowing and closes during inspiration
relaxes to allow entry of food, closed to prevent reflux
regulates gastric emptying, prevents duodenal gastric reflux
regulates flow from ileum to caecum
Why is the stomach important in the GI system?
how does it produce chyme?
Starting point for digestion of proteins (pepsin and HCL) and continues carbohydrate digestion (salivary amylase)
mixes food with gastric secretions to produce chyme
What are the two types of mechanical activity of the stomach? Orad and caudad
orad stomach - tonic (maintained) minimal mixing for amylase to work
caudad stomach - phasic (intermittent, slow waves - pump propels contents towards the pylorus
What is retropulsion of the caudad region?
velocity of contraction overtakes movement of chyme so it rebounds the food away from the antram to ensure proper mixing ensues
What are the gastric factors that determine the emptying of stomach?
Rate of emptying is proportional to volume of chyme in stomach:
What are the duodenal factors that determine the emptying of stomach?
neuronal response - decreased antral activity (enterogastric activity)
List some gastric secretions in the oxyntic mucosa (fundus and body) - HCL, pepsinogen and histamine - detail what they do
HCL - activates pepsinogen to pepsin and denatures proteins
Pepsinogen - inactive precursor to pepsin
histamine - stimulates HCL secretion
List some pyloric gland gastric secretions (gastrin, somatostatin)
Gastrin - stimulates HCL
somatostatin - inhibits HCL secretion
What is assimilation?
overall process of digestion and absorption
What is the definition of absorption?
absorbable products of digestion are transferred across both the apical and basolateral membranes of enterocytes
What are enterocytes
absorptive cells in the intestinal epithelium
What form must all dietary carbohydrates be in for absorption?
In the form of monosaccharides
What is produced when lactase is broken down?
breaks is down into glucose and galactose
Why is lactase rate limiting in assimilation?
The hydrolysis reactions dont occur at a faster rate than subsequent transport of the monomers produced
Where does the absorption of the monosaccharides take place? - What are glucose and galactose secondary active transport mediated by?
and how do they move across the membrane?
occurs in the duodenum and the jejunum
Glucose and galactose are absorbed by secondary active transport mediated by SGLT1
fructose by facilitated diffusion by GLUT2
How do the monosaccharides exit?
mediated by facilitated diffusion by glut2
How does the SGLT1 operate?
sodium binds to the channel which increases its affinity for glucose which means it is transported more readily
What is an example of a protein degradation reaction in order to release amino acids into the blood
Protein - peptides - amino acids - amino acids in enterocyte and then the amino acid gets released into the blood
Detail the process of the digestion of proteins in the stomach
HCL denatures proteins, pepsin cleaves proteins into peptides
How does digestion in the duodenum occur?
Five pancreatic proteases are secreted as pro enzymes from acing cells and converted to active form in the duodenum
Why are brush border peptidases numerous?
Each enzyme attacks a limited number of peptide bonds and oligopeptides have an extremely varied structure
How are amino acids transported out of enterocytes
brush border - sodium and non sodium dependant transporter
basolateral membrane - sodium dependant and independent transporters
How do di, tri and tetra peptides get absorbed?
via H+ dependant mechanism at brush border -
What is the role of the small intestine and what are the three parts of it?
Role = major site for digestion and absorption
three parts - duodenum, jejunum and ileum
What does the small intestine receive?
chyme from the stomach, pancreatic juice and bile from liver and gall bladder
What does motility cause in the small intestine?
Mixing of the chyme with digestive juices (segmentation), slow propulsion of the chyme (peristalsis) and removal of undigested residues (migrating motor complex)
How is segmentation initiaited
small intestine pacemaker cells causing the basal electrical rhythm
How is segmentation altered?
slowed down to allow time for absorption, strength is enhanced and decreased by parasympathetic activity
What is the migrating motor complex?
Strong peristaltic contraction slowly passing length of the intestine which clears stomach of debris, mucus and dead epithelial cells
What is the MMC inhibited by?
feeding and vagal activity - gastrin and CCK