Structure of GI Tract and Motility Flashcards
What structure of the GI tract, chop food, lubricate it, start carbohydrate and fat digestion and propel food to oesophagus?
Mouth and oropharynx
What structure of the GI tract, delivers food to the stomach?
Oesophagus
What structure of the GI tract stores food temporarily, continues carbohydrate and fat digestion and regulates delivery of chyme to the small intestine?
Stomach
What structure in the GI tract is the principal site of digestion and absorption of nutrients?
Small intestine
What structure of the GI tract reabsorbs fluids and electrolytes and stores faecal matter before regulated expulsion?
Large intestine
What are the three accessory structures of the GI tract?
Salivary glands, pancreas and the liver and gall bladder (hepatobiliary system)
What are the four basic digestive processes?
- Motility
- Secretion
- Digestion
- Absorption
What type of muscle does mechanical activity for motility in the mouth, pharynx, upper oesophagus and external anal sphincter?
Skeletal muscle
In motility, what are the three types of movements?
- Propulsive movements
- Mixing movements
- Tonic contractions
What do digestion and protection both require?
Secretion
What three things does digestive secretion contain?
- Water
- Electrolytes
- Organic compounds
What is the term for the biochemical breakdown (enzymatic hydrolysis) of complex foodstuffs to smaller, absorbable units?
Digestion
In digestion, what are carbohydrates [mostly polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen] converted to, and what mediates this conversion?
Monosaccharides (glucose, galactose and fructose)
Mediated by amylases and dissacharidases.
In digestion, what are proteins converted to and what mediates it?
Amino acids, dipeptides and tripeptides
Mediated by proteases and dipeptidases
In digestion, what are fats converted to [mostly triglycerides] and what mediates it?
Monoglycerides and free fatty acids.
Mediated by lipases
What term is given to the process involving the transfer of the absorbable products of digestion from the digestive tract to the blood or lymph?
Absorption
What part of the digestive tract wall has: epithelial cells, exocrine cells, endocrine gland cells, lamina propria and muscularis mucosa? State the components roles also.
Mucosa. Epithelial cells - absorption. Exocrine cells - secrete digestive juices. Endocrine gland cells - secrete digestive hormones. Lamina propria - capillaries, enteric neurones and immune cells.
What structure of the digestive tract wall contains connective tissue, larger blood and lymph vessels and a nerve network - submucosa plexus?
Submucosa
What part of the digestive tract wall is a circular muscle layer, has a nerve network - myenteric plexus and longitudinal muscle layer?
Muscularis externa
What is the outer layer of the digestive tract wall and what does it contain?
Serosa - connective tissue
What does circular muscle contraction do to the lumen?
Becomes narrower and longer
What does longitudinal muscle contraction do to the intestine?
Becomes shorter and fatter
What does muscularis mucosae contraction do to the mucosa?
Change in absorptive and secretory area of mucosa
What are adjacent smooth muscle cells in the GI tract coupled by?
Gap junctions
What do gap junction between smooth muscle cells of the GI tract form, by allowing spread of electrical currents from cell to cell?
Functional syncytium in which hundreds of cells are depolarised and contract at the same time.
What two factors modulate spontaneous smooth muscle activity in the GI tract?
- Intrinsic (enteric) and extrinsic (autonomic) nerves
2. Numerous hormones
In the stomach, small intestine and large intestine, what does spontaneous electrical activity occur as?
Slow waves
In the GI tract, what determines maximal frequency, direction and velocity of rhythmic contractions?
Slow wave electrical activity
What drives slow waves?
Interstitial cells of Cajal - pacemaker cells