Digestive system

Key definitions

- Ingestion is the taking of substances such as food and drink into

the body through the mouth.
-Mechanical digestion is the breakdown of food into smaller
pieces without chemical change to the food molecules.
-Chemical digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble
molecules into small soluble molecules.
-Absorption is the movement of small food molecules and ions
through the wall of the intestine into the blood.
-Assimilation is the movement of digested food molecules into
the cells of the body where they are used, becoming part of the
cells.
-Egestion is the passing out of food that has not been digested or
absorbed, as faeces, through the anus.
Digestive system (gastrointestinal (GI) system)
There are four main functions of the gastrointestinal (GI) system:
• Digestion
• Absorption
• Metabolism
• Egestion
-Each organ completes a specific task
-It is made of digestive track and accessory organs
Digestive tract
It is a continuous tube made of the organs that food and liquids
travel through when they are swallowed, digested, absorbed,
and leave the body as feces.
Accessory organs
-They are the organs that are in the digestive system but not part of the digestive tract.
-They are linked to the digestive tract
-The accessory organs are the teeth, tongue, and glandular organs
Glandular organs :
-salivary glands - liver
- gallbladder -pancreas
Functions of the digestive system parts
 • Mouth is the first apparatus, where food is broken into smaller
pieces
• Teeth chew food; salivary glands secrete enzyme amylase for
chemical breakdown
• Three pairs of salivary glands: Sublingual, submandibular, and parotid
• Saliva moistens the esophagus for easy swallowing (with help from
the tongue)
• Pharynx connects the mouth to the esophagus and contains
epiglottis
• Epiglottis closes off the trachea to prevent food entry
• Esophagus performs peristalsis to propel food
• It ends with a sphincter (lower esophageal sphincter)

What is peristalsis?

Peristalsis is the process by which waves of involuntary

muscle contractions push food through the esophagus into the stomach.

• In the stomach, food enters an acidic environment, and chemical breakdown takes place
Food activates gastric juices secreted in the stomach
Gastric juice consists of enzymes and hydrochloric acid (HCl) with a pH 2
Inner mucosal lining is alkaline for protection
Protective mucosal lining prevents acid from eating through the stomach wall
-Small intestines
Small intestines are three sections:
-Duodenum: 25 cm long
Connected to liver and pancreas
Receives secretions from the liver and pancreas
-Jejunum: 2.5 m long
-Ileum: 3.5 m long
The major function of small intestine is food absorption
Intestinal secretions: Alkaline pH
Large intestine
Large intestine – main sections:
-Cecum, colon, rectum, and anus
-Absorption limited to water and electrolytes
-Substances transformed into solid fecal matter
Accessory organs
Organ Function
 Liver Makes bile which is stored in gallbladder

Gallbladder Stores and secrete bile into duodenum via

bile duct

Pancreas Secretes pancreatic juice into duodenum via

the pancreatic duct

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og5xAdC8EUI

Digestion
Mechanical digestion
-It is breaking down large pieces of food into smaller ones
-Small particles of food are easier to digest than large chunks.
-The process of mechanical digestion starts in the mouth by means of the teeth, through a
process called mastication.
-It occurs in stomach (churning) and deudenum (emulsification) too
Chemical digestion
• The purpose of digestion is to break down large, insoluble molecules (carbohydrates,
proteins and lipids) into small, soluble molecules that can be absorbed into the
bloodstream
• Glucose is absorbed without digestion
• Food is partially digested mechanically to break large pieces of food into smaller pieces of
food which increases the surface area for enzymes to work on
• Chemical digestion is controlled by enzymes which are produced in different areas of the
digestive system
• In chemical digestion, bonds holding the large molecules together are broken to make
smaller and smaller molecules
• There are main types of digestive enzymes – carbohydrases, proteases, nucleases and
lipases

Carbohydrases
-They break down carbohydrates
-Salivary amylase (produced in the mouth)
-Pancreatic amylase (produced in the pancreas and secreted into the duodenum)
-Amylases digest starch into maltose (a disaccharide) which is then further digested into glucose
by maltase enzyme in the small intestine which is another type of carbohydrase
 Proteases
-Pepsin is produced in the stomach and activated by acidic Ph around 2
-Trypsin is produced in the pancreas and secreted into the duodenum, activated by alkaline
pH around 8
Both break down proteins into peptides
-Erepsin is a mixture of enzymes in a protein fraction found in the intestinal juices that digest
peptides into amino acids.

Lipases
Gastric lipase enzymes are produced in stomach
pancreatic lipase enzymes are produced in the pancreas and secreted into the duodenum
They digest lipids into fatty acids and glycerol
Nucleases
Two types of pancreatic nuclease are responsible for their digestion: deoxyribonuclease,
which digests DNA, and ribonuclease, which digests RNA

The mouth
Mechanical digestion and chemical digestion
Saliva contains mucus that moistens food so it's easier to swallow.
It contains salivary amylase that works in pH around 7

What is the function of mucus in the digestive system?

1- lubricates food for swallowing
2- protects the gum against abrasion
3- protects the internal wall of the digestive tract from bacteria by promoting their clearance
and separating them from the internal wall, thereby inhibiting inflammation and infection.

The stomach
An example of physical digestion is the peristaltic action of muscles in the wall of the
stomach.
Churning and squeezing the food in the stomach and mixing it with gastric juice, turning the
mixture into a creamy liquid called chyme.
This action gives the food a greater surface area so that it can be digested more efficiently

Why doesn’t stomach digest itself?

There are three ways of protection:
1- the stomach secretes little gastric juice till food is present
2-some stomach cells secrete mucus which prevents the gastric juice from harming the cells
of stomach lining
3- pepsin is secreted in an inactive form then it is activated by the HCl
Why are enzymes secreted inactive and what activates them?
• Because if they are released in the active form, they start digesting the glands carrying
them and the site where they are released.
• Some enzymes are activated at certain pH like pepsinogen to pepsin in stomach
• Some enzymes are activated by other enzymes
• Trypsin forms when trypsinogen secreted by the pancreas is activated by enterokinase
produced in the small intestine.
• Trypsin then activates additional pancreatic enzymes, such
as carboxypeptidase and chymotrypsin, to help break down peptides.

•
Duodenum
It is connected to pancreas through pancreatic duct to receive pancreatic juice and it is
connected to gall bladder through biliary duct to receive bile
Pancreatic juice:
• It contains bicarbonate to neutralize the acidity of chyme
• It contains inactive trypsin and chymotrypsin
• Amylase and lipase
 Bile
• It is produced in liver and stored in gallbladder
• It contains bile salts ( detergent-like effect)
• it divides the large fat globule into smaller droplets (emulsification), increasing the total surface
area available for lipase enzyme activity (mechanical digestion)
• It is alkaline to neutralize the hydrochloric acid which comes from the stomach. The enzymes in
the small intestine have a higher (more alkaline) optimum pH than those in the stomach

Hormonal regulation of digestion

Gastrin
• It is secreted from the Stomach in the presence of food and partially digested proteins
• It targets stomach as it signals the release of HCL from the stomach
Secretin
• It is secreted from the small intestine: upon the presence of HCL coming from the stomach
• It targets the pancreas to release HCO3- ions to neutralize acid coming out with food from
stomach to duodenum
• It inhibits gastrin

CCK (cholesystokinin)
• It is secreted from small intestine upon the presence of fats
• It targets gall bladder as it stimulates the release of bile salts to break down fats
physically.
• It has a role in inducing satiety
• It stimulates the release of pancreatic enzymes

Location of macromolecules digestion

•
 Absorption and hormonal regulation of digestive system
Absorption
-Absorption is the movement of digested food molecules from the digestive system into the
blood (glucose and amino acids) and lymph (fatty acids and glycerol)
-This takes place in the second section of the small intestine, the ileum
-The ileum (small intestine) is adapted for this function as:
• it is very long
• it has a highly folded surface with millions of villi (tiny, finger like projections)
-These adaptations massively increase the surface area of the ileum, allowing absorption to take
place faster and more efficiently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BeCEO96LFg
 Hunger hormones
Leptin
• the major appetite suppressing hormone.
• It is produced by fat tissue
• Increased body weight makes you resistant to its effects.
Ghrelin
• Secreted by stomach
• stimulates appetite, increase the feeling of hunger
• Although its levels fall during obesity, it still makes you eat more due to leptin resistance.

PYY and NPY

• Secreted by the small intestine
• are two potent peptides with opposite actions
• i.e. PYY suppresses appetite when there is food in gut and NPY stimulates appetite.

Enterogastrone hormone
• It is released from the duodenum
• it slows gastric contraction to delay emptying of the stomach(it decreases peristalsis)
• it stops the secretion of gastric juice.
• Enterogastrone is released when the stomach contents pass into the small intestine.
 Glucose regulation hormones
• The human body wants blood glucose (blood sugar) maintained in a very narrow range.
• Insulin and glucagon are the hormones that make this happen.
• Both insulin and glucagon are secreted from the pancreas
• Glucagon increases blood glucose levels by activating the breaking down of glycogen into
glucose
• Insulin decreases blood glucose levels by facilitating the entering of glucose inside cells
and the conversion of it into glycogen.

•
 Digestive disorders
Peptic Ulcer Disease
• H. pylori (gram-negative bacillus) embeds itself in mucosal lining of stomach and
duodenum
• Cause of inflammation, peptic ulcers; linked to stomach cancer
• Wash hands to reduce the spread of bacteria
Crohn's Disease
• Causes ulcerations in the small and large intestinal lining; can effect anywhere from
mouth to anus
• Direct cause unknown: Autoimmune and genetic factors play role

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

• Characterized by chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habits
• Abdominal pain ranges from mild to debilitating
• Treatment: Avoid any triggers/irritants