Week 1 GI lectures Flashcards
What is enteropathy?
Damage to the small bowel
With what condition in young women should coeliac disease be checked for?
Iron deficiency
What is TTG?
Tissue Transglutaminase
What grains contain gluten?
Wheat, rye, barley and oats
What is necessary but not sufficient for coeliac disease?
DQ2/8
If you don’t have DQ2/8 can you have coeliac disease?
no
Are people with coeliac disease born with it?
No - there is a genetic disposition but to develop the disease you must be exposed to gluten (needs a trigger)
What are the GI symptoms of coeliac disease?
Diarrhea, indigestion, constipation, vomiting, chronic abdo pain, weight loss, anorexia, inadequate growth in children
What other symptoms (non-GI) does coeliac disease cause?
- bone symptoms
- iron deficiency
- hepatitis
- neuro symptoms (anxiety, depression, cerebellar ataxia, chronic fatigue, epilepsy and seizures)
What should be done when it is suspected that a patient has coeliac disease?
A duodenal biopsy
What are the muscular layers of the digestive tract wall?
Outer longitudinal and inner circular
How is the function of the smooth muscle in the digestive tract wall controlled?
The interstitial cells of Cajal
How do the interstitial cells of Cajal control the smooth muscle in the digestive tract?
They set the basal electrical rhythm (BER) - create action potential Ca2+ influx K+ efflux
What is the function of the intrinsic - myenteric/submucosal nerve plexus?
Controls all facets of the GI tract
What nerve supplies fibres to the myenteric/submucosal nerve plexus?
Sympathetic and parasympathetic fibres of the vagus nerve
What is the function of the extrinsic nerve plexus?
Modifies the intrinsic pathways
What situation does parasympathetic innervation predominate in?
Relaxed situations
What substance promotes excitation (contraction) in the digestive tract wall?
Acetyl choline
What substances promote relaxation in the digestive tract wall?
VIP and nitric oxide
Are the muscles of mastication under voluntary or involuntary control?
Voluntary (skeletal muscle)
What secretions occur in the mouth?
Saliva
What is the function of saliva?
- Lubrication for swallowing (and speech)
- Antibacterial - lysozyme, thiocyanate
- Amylase (carbohydrate digestion)
What digestion begins in the mouth?
Complex carbohydrate digestion (starch - plants, and glycogen - animals)
How does the digestion of complex carbohydrates begin in the mouth?
Amylase breaks alpha1,4 linkage - hydrolyses into a mixture of maltose and glucose
Why can’t cellulose be broken down in humans?
We lack cellulase to break the beta1,4 linkage
What contribution does the mouth have in absorption?
None
What are the two salivary reflexes?
- Simple / unconditioned salivary reflex
- Acquired/ conditioned salivary reflex
What is the simple/ unconditioned salivary reflex?
Chemo and pressure receptors in the oral cavity –> afferent nerve fibres to the salivary centre in the medulla
What is the acquired/ conditioned salivary reflex?
When saliva production is increased due to thinking about food
What type of saliva is produced due to the low level constant parasympathetic stimulation?
Continuous flow of watery saliva
What type of saliva does sympathetic stimulation produce?
Low volume thick saliva rich in mucus
What is the function of the oesophagus?
Acts as a conduit to propel bolus from the pharynx to the stomach
Is swallowing voluntary or involuntary?
It is initiated voluntarily (pharyngeal phase = 1 second) and then completed involuntarily (oesophageal phase 5-9 seconds)
What nerve provides the innervation for the primary peristaltic wave?
The vagus nerve, controlled by the swallowing centre in the medulla
What is the secondary peristaltic wave?
If food gets stuck pressure receptors in the oesophagus trigger more forceful contractions
What is secreted in the oesophagus?
Mucus for lubrication and protection
What digestion occurs in the oesophagus?
None
What absorption occurs in the oesophagus?
None
How is food stored in the stomach?
Receptive relaxation - BER
How are food and gastric secretions mixed in the stomach?
Strong antral peristalsis propels chyme against the closed pyloric sphincter
What factors control gastric emptying?
Factors in the stomach:
- Volume of chyme
- Degree of fluidity of the chyme (positive effect)
Factors in the duodenum:
- Enterogastrones, secretin and cholecystokinin (inhibitory and more powerful effect)
What is secreted in the stomach?
Gastrin, HCl, histamine, pepsinogen, somatostatin
What is the function of Gastrin?
- Along with vagal stimulation it causes the release of HCl
- along with vagal stimulation it promotes the secretion of pepsinogen
- acts on ECL cells causing them to secrete histamine
Where and what causes gastrin to be secreted?
Gastrin is released by G-cells in the pyloric gland area in response to vagal stimulation and the presence of protein in the stomach
What cells secrete HCl and why?
Parietal cells secrete HCl when stimulated by gastrin and vagal stimulation
What cells secrete Histamine and why?
ECL cells (Enterochromaffin like cells) secrete histamine when stimulated by gastrin and vagal stimulation
What cells secrete pepsinogen and why?
Chief cells secrete pepsinogen when stimulated by gastrin and vagal stimulation
How does pepsinogen turn into pepsin?
In the presence of acid (autocatalysis)
What cells secrete somatostatin and why?
D cells secrete somatostatin in response to increased acid
What is the function of somatostatin?
Inhibits gastrin
What are the functions of HCl?
- Pepsinogen to pepsin
- Connective tissue and muscle fibre breakdown
- denatures proteins
- provides barrier immunity
What (except for HCl) do parietal cells secrete?
Intrinsic factor
What does intrinsic factor do?
Combines with b12 to facilitate absorption in the terminal ileum
What is absorbed in the stomach?
Alcohol and aspirin
What are the two phases of stimulation of gastric secretion?
Cephalic and gastric
What is the cephalic phase?
smelling, tasting chewing food = increased Ach release Vagus Nerve
What is the gastric phase?
Presence of proteins in stomach, distention, certain food types (caffeine alcohol)
What inhibits gastric secretions?
- removal of proteins as the stomach empties
- accumulation of acid
- intestinal phase
Why does the accumulation of acid inhibit gastric secretions?
It causes D cells to release somatostatin which inhibits parietal, G and ECL cells
What is the intestinal phase?
The enterogastric reflex - enterogastrones released (CCK and secretin) which inhibit parietal cells and chief cells as well as smooth muscle contractions
What are the two types of motility that occur in the small intestines?
segmentation and migrating motility complex
What is segmentation?
Chyme is mixed with digestive enzymes and is slowly propelled through the digestive tract.
What type of contractions occur in segmentation?
Oscillating, ring like contractions of circular smooth muscle.
What is segmentation controlled by?
Controlled by BER and influenced by gastrin and the extrinsic nervous system
What is the Migrating Motility complex?
Following absorption there are between-meal short peristaltic contractions that sweep up the remnants of the meal aswell as mucosal debris and bacteria, moving towards the colon - it takes roughly 100-150 minutes to migrate from the stomach
What is the Migrating Motility complex regulated by?
The hormone motilin
What is secreted by the small intestines?
1.5L of aqueous salt and mucus.
No digestive enzymes (these come from the pancreas and liver)
What are the functions of the exocrine pancreas?
- Production of bicarbonate
- Production of pancreatic enzymes
What is the function of the bicarbonate that is produced by the exocrine pancreas?
Neutralizes the pH of the chyme from the stomach
How does the exocrine pancreas know to release bicarbonate?
Acidity in duodenum releases Secretin from S Cells – travels in bloodstream to pancreas causing stimulate of bicarbonate from Pancreatic Duct Cells.
What triggers the release of pancreatic enzymes?
Fat>Protein products in duodenum causes release of Cholecystokinin (CCK) –travels in bloodstream stimulating release of pancreatic enzymes from Pancreatic Acinar cells
How do the pancreatic enzymes aid digestion?
- Proteins - pancreatic proteolytic enzymes break proteins into small peptide chains and amino acids
- Fats - Pancreatic lipase hydrolyses dietary triglycerides into monoglycerides and free fatty acids
- carbohydrates - pancreatic amylase breaks polysaccharides into disaccharides
What is the liver responsible for the metabolism and detoxification of?
- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Steroidal hormones
- Non-steroidal hormones
- Insulin
- Growth hormones
What does the liver produce and regulate?
- Triglycerides
- Phospholipids
- Lipoproteins
- Cholesterol
- Acetyl-CoA
What vitamins does the liver store?
A D E K B12
What happens if triglycerides aggregate together?
They form large fat droplets in the chyme and can avoid the action of pancreatic lipase
Where is bile secreted?
The liver
Where is bile stored?
The gallbladder
What do the bile salts do to the large fat droplets in the chyme?
Convert them into lipid emulsion. The smaller fat droplets now repel each other
What does lecithin support the production of?
Water soluble micelles which allows fats to be transported to the small intestine mucosa for absorption
What is bile secretion controlled by?
- chemicals
- hormones
- neural
How do chemicals influence bile secretion?
Bile salts are choleretic. After they participate in fat digestion and absorption, they are reabsorbed into enterohepatic circulation and stimulate more bile secretion
What does choleretic mean?
Choleretics are substances that increase the volume of secretion of bile from the liver as well as the amount of solids secreted.
What hormones are involved in the control of bile secretion?
Secretin
How is neural control involved in the control of bile secretion?
The vagal nerve (cephalic phase)
What happens in the small intestine in relation to FAT digestion?
They are now absorbable monoglycerides and free fatty acids
What happens in the small intestine in relation to CARBOHYDRATE digestion?
They are reduced to disaccharides (and some monosaccharides)
What happens in the small intestine in relation to PROTEIN digestion?
They have been reduced to small peptide fragments and amino acids but this is still NOT COMPLETE
What is the brush border?
Actin stiffened hair like projections on the epithelial surface of the intestinal mucosa
What are disaccharidases?
Maltase, sucrase, lactase - they complete carbohydrate digestion by hydrolysing disaccharides into monosaccharides
What are examples of monosaccharides?
Glucose
Galactose
Fructose
What is the function of aminopeptidases?
They change the remaining peptide fragments into their amino acid constituents