Unit 1- Section 2 The Digestive System Flashcards
Give 2 examples of polymers
Proteins and carbohydrates
What are polymers?
Long chains of monomers
In carbohydrates what are the monomers called?
Monosaccharides
In proteins what are the monomers?
Amino acids
What elements are in carbohydrates?
Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
What are the elements of proteins?
Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen
What are the two types of digestion?
Physical and chemical
What happens during physical digestion?
Food is broken down into smaller pieces by the teeth in the mouth, it then moves down into the stomach where it is further broken down by churning. Breaking food down into smaller pieces gives it a large resurface area which makes chemical digestion faster
What happens during chemical digestion?
The polymers in our food are insoluble- they cannot be directly absorbed into our blood stream and made into new products.
The products have to be hydrolysed (broken down) into smaller, more soluble products by adding water. The process happens during chemical digestion.
Hydrolysis is catalysed by digestive enzymes.
What happens during hydrolysis?
Polymers are broken down into monomers by adding water
They go from being insoluble to soluble
What is the mouth used for when considering digestion?
Teeth are used to physically breakdown food
Tongue is used to force food down into the oesophagus
Saliva contains amylase enzymes that break down food and starts off the chemical digestion process it also makes food easier to swallow
What is the oesophagus used for when considering digestion?
It’s the tube that takes food from the mouth to the stomach. It does this by having waves of muscle contraction. Mucus is also secreted from the tissues in the walls to lubricate food passing downwards
What is the stomach used for when considering digestion?
Produces hydrochloric acid, pepsin and mucus to break down the food and make acidic conditions. It also churns food to physically break it down
What is the small intestine used for when considering digestion?
Bile is produced in the pancreas then is used to neutralise the acidic conditions from the stomach. Passes food to the large intestine. Soluble molecules are absorbed through villi and micro villi
What 3 ways is food absorbed into the small intestine?
Diffusion, facilitated diffusion and active transport
What does the large intestine do when considering digestion?
Absorbs water, salts and minerals. It has folded walls so provides a large surface are for maximum absorption. Bacteria and undigested nutrients are found in the large intestine
What does the rectum do when considering digestion?
Faeces are stored in the rectum and then it’s passes to the anus for defecation
What glands are used for digestion?
Salivary glands, the pancreas
How do the salivary glands help with digestion?
They secrete saliva that consists of mucus, mineral salts and salivary amylase.
What does salivary amylase break down and what into?
Breaks down starch into maltose, a disaccharides.
How does the pancreas help digestion?
Produces pancreatic juice which contains amylase and lipase. Also contains sodium hydrogen carbonate which neutralises the acidity of the hydrochloric acid from the stomach
What does pepsin break down and where is it found?
Stomach, is a protease so it breaks down protein into peptides
What does maltase break down?
Maltose into glucose
What digestive enzymes break down food?
Amylase breaks down starch into maltose
Maltase then breaks down maltose into glucose
What are proteins made from?
They are made from amino acids
Monomers are made from?
One amino acid
What are dipeptides made from?
Two amino acids
What are polypeptides made from?
More than 2 amino acids
What are proteins made up of?
One or more polypeptides
What is the structure of the amino acids?
All amino acids have the same general structure
A carboxyl group (-COOH)
Amino acid group (-NH)
2
The difference from amino acids is the variable group R
R
H2N—C—COOH
H
What is the polypeptide formation?
Amino acids are linked together by condensation reactions to form polypeptides
A molecule of water is released during the reaction.
The bonds formed between the amino acids are called peptide bonds
During condensation what bonds form between what?
Peptide bonds between amino acids
What are the four layers of a proteins structure?
Primary structure
Secondary structure
Tertiary structure
Quaternary structure
What is the primary structure of a protein?
Sequence of amino acids in the polypeptide chain