DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

 Overview of the digestive system

 Physiology of digestion and
absorption
Participants
 Ngcamphalala Gcinile 202004546
 Simelane Masiko 202003847
 Sacolo Wenzi 202004390
 Mdlovu Setsabile
 Dlamini Menelisi T.T 202004609
Objectives
 Digestive processes
 Basic functional concepts
 Digestive system organs: Relationships
 Digestion and absorption of fats, carbohydrates and proteins
 Developmental aspect of the digestive system
Digestive processes
 Basically, the digestive system takes in food, breaks it down into nutrients,
absorbs the molecules that have been digested into the blood stream and then it
gets rid of the indigestible remains from the body.
 There are two main groups of the organs of the digestive system, they are:
 Those of the GI tract(alimentary canal)- the gastrointestinal tract is a long
continuous tract. Food in the gastrointestinal tract is as good as food that is
outside the body because the gastrointestinal tract is open at both ends to the
external environment.
 Accessory digestive organs- these are the organs that assist in digestion but
are not part of the alimentary canal. The teeth and tongue are in the oral
cavity. The digestive glands and the gallbladder are connected to the
gastrointestinal tract through ducts.
Digestive Processes
• Alimentary canal organs include the following:
a) Mouth- it is the oral cavity that has the teeth and the tongue.
b) Pharynx- it is located just below the salivary glands, before the oesophagus. It
is sometimes called the windpipe.
c) Stomach-it is found in the upper abdomen.
d) Intestines- there is the small intestine and the large intestine.
e) Anus- a sphincter muscled organs at the end of the digestive tract.

 Accessory organs include:

a) Teeth- there are different types of teeth that chew food and grind it to be
smaller pieces that can be swallowed.
b) Tongue-it has sensory receptors that get stimulated during ingestion.
c) Gall bladder- this organ releases the bile that help to emulsify fats in digestion.
d) Digestive glands(salivary glands, liver and pancreas). The salivary glands are
the submandibular gland, sublingual gland parotid gland.
Digestive processes
 Major processes in the digestive systems are (chronologically):
1. Ingestion
2. Mechanical breakdown
3. Propulsion
4. Digestion
5. Absorption
6. Defecation
Digestive processes
o Ingestion is the act of taking in food by inserting it in the mouth. It is in this
stage where mechanical breakdown occur. Although mechanical breakdown
also occur in the stomach through churning and segmentation in the ileum.
o Segmentation is the rhythmic constriction of the ileum.

o Propulsion is the relaxation and constriction of the smooth and circular muscles
to propel bolus to the stomach. It is the same as peristalsis and it occur in the
oesophagus. Propulsion also includes swallowing by the oropharynx.
Digestive processes
o Digestion is the chemical breakdown of food where by enzymes work on the
food to get small molecules of food that are then absorbed in the small
intestines. Although chemical breakdown does occur in the mouth too when the
amylase enzyme act on sugar to give maltose.
o Absorption occurs in the small and large intestines and it is basically when the
body assimilates the essential nutrients to be supplied to different body organs
for maintenance.
o Defecation is sometimes called egestion. This is when the body gets rids of the
indigestible remains of the digestion through the anus.
Basic Functional Concepts
 The gastrointestinal tract has regulatory mechanisms that help control its
luminal conditions so that digestion is effective.
 Two facts apply:
1. Digestive activity is produced by a range of mechanical and chemical
stimuli.
- The wall of the alimentary canal organs have sensors which respond to
several stimuli like:
- The stretch of organ by food in the lumen
- Solute concentration
- The pH of the food
- Presence of substrate and a substrate is the food type that is specific
to the enzyme it is catalysed by i.e. proteins are a substrate to
pepsin.
Basic functional concepts
- When stimulated, the receptors initiate these reflexes:
- Activates or inhibits glands that secrete digestive juice into lumen or the
hormones into the blood.
- Stimulates smooth muscles of the alimentary canal wall to mix and move
contact along tract.
1. Control of digestive activity are both inside the GI tract (intrinsic) or outside
the GI tract (extrinsic).
- The intrinsic digestive activity is controlled by the nerve plexuses and
hormone producing cells.
- The nerve plexuses are found in the gut brain and they spread along the
entire length of the alimentary canal to regulate digestive activity along the
tract.
- The hormone producing cells are found in the stomach and the small
intestines. Hormones are released to the intestinal fluid in the extracellular
space. Hormones are then distributed to the organs that they induce to secret
or contract.
Digestive system organs: relationship
 Most digestive system organs reside in the abdominopelvic cavity.
 Between the visceral peritoneum and parietal peritoneum space there is serous
fluid that lubricate the mobile digestive organs.
 This allows the digestive organs to glide easily across one another as they carry
the digestive process.
 There is a Mesentery that connect the visceral and parietal peritoneum that
provide a route for conducting blood vessels lymphatic nerve to the digestive
viscera.
 The splanchnic circulation of blood supply to the digestive system.
Digestion of carbohydrates
 Mechanical and chemical digestion of carbohydrates begins in the mouth, where
the carbohydrates foods are broken (chewed) into smaller pieces. The saliva
contains an enzyme amylase which is produced by the salivary glands. Amylase
break down the bonds between the monomeric units in the carbohydrates.
Amylose and amylopectin are smaller chains of glucose called dextrin’s and
maltose which is produced by enzyme amylase when breaking down
carbohydrates. Only about 5% of starch is broken down in the mouth. When the
maltose and glucose reach the stomach there is no further chemical digestion of
the carbohydrates because the amylase is inactivated in the stomach by the acidic
conditions of the gastric juice.
 In the stomach mechanical break down by peristaltic contractions enhances mix
the food material called chyme and is passed into the small intestines. Once the
chyme is in the duodenum, the pancreas releases some pancreatic juice containing
an enzyme called pancreatic amylase. The release of these enzyme triggers the
continuation of chemical break down of carbohydrates in the duodenum. The walls
of the duodenum also produce some other enzymes; maltase, lactase and sucrase.
Digestion of Carbohydrates
 Starting point for digestion for carbohydrates is the mouth.

Disaccharide Enzyme Monosaccharide

Maltose Maltase Glucose
Lactose Lactase Galactose/ glucose
Sucrose Sucrase Fructose/ glucose
 Digestion of carbohydrates
 NB: for large meals, amylase continue to work in the stomach too.

Enzyme Where its Site of Substrate End product

produced action
Salivary amylase Salivary Mouth Starch maltose(Disaccharide)
glands (polysaccharide)
Pancreatic Pancrease Small Starch Maltose9disaccharide)
amylase intestines (polysaccharide)
Oligosaccharide Lining of Small Disaccharide Glucose,fructose,galact
intestine; intestine ose
brush
border
membrane
Digestion of carbohydrates
 Lack of enzyme lactase result in poor digestion of lactose which result in a
condition called lactose intolerance, bacteria in the large intestines digest the
lactose producing gases leading to bloating and abdominal cramps
Digestion of Proteins
 Proteins are digested in the stomach by enzyme proteases, which breaks it
down to smaller chains of amino (peptides). Pepsin is a protease working in
conjunction with the chymotrypsin and trypsin released in the small intestines,
pepsin severs the links between specific types of amino acids to form shorter
polypeptides chains. From the stomach these polypeptides chains move to the
small intestines, in the duodenum enzyme trypsin, elastin chymotrypsin and
carboxypeptidases breaks them down to form amino acids.
 Digestion of proteins
 The starting point of the digestion of proteins is in the stomach.

Enzyme Produced by Site of Substrate End

action product
Pepsin Stomach, by the chief Stomach Proteins Peptides
cells
• Trypsin Pancrease Small Proteins Peptides
• Elastin intestines
chymotrypsin
Carboxypeptidase Pancrease Small Peptides Amino
intestines acids +
peptides
• Amino peptidase Lining of the intestines Small peptides Amino
• Dipeptidase intestines acids
Digestion of lipids
 Digestion of fats or lipids starts in the stomach; however, bulk of lipid
digestion occurs in the small intestine due to due to pancreatic lipase. When the
chyme enters the duodenum, the hormonal response triggers the release of bile.
Bile aids in the digestion of fats by emulsification. Emulsification is a process
in which large lipid globulins are broken down to smaller lipids. Lipids are
hydrophobic, that why they will aggregate to form globules to minimize
exposure to water. Then the emulsified fats are broken down by lipase to form
three fatty acids and glycerol.
ABSORPTION
 Walls of alimentary canal from oesophagus to rectum possess four layers
namely serosa, muscularis,sub mucosa and mucosa.

1. The serosa is the outermost layer with thin (epithelium of visceral organise
some connective tissues.
2. Muscularis is formed by smooth muscles arranged in inner circular and outer
longitudinal layer. However, sometimes it contains oblique layer.
3. Sub mucosa is formed of loose connective tissues containing nerves, blood
and lymph vessels are found in this layer.
 The innermost layer lining the lumen of the alimentary canal is the mucosa.
This layer forms irregular folds(rugae) in the stomach and small finger like
foldings called villi.
MICROVILLI
 Cells lining the villi produce numerous microscopic projection called
microvilli giving it a boarder appearance. These modifications increase the
surface area enormously. This site is supplied with network of capillaries and
large lymph vessels which are called lacteals. Mucosal epithelium has goblet
cells which secrete mucus that help in lubrication. Mucosa also forms glands in
stomach (gastric glands) and crypts in between the bases of villi in the
intestines (crypts of lieberkuhn).
 Absorption as a process

Absorption is the process by which the end products of digestion pass through the
intestinal mucosa into the blood or lymph. This process is carried out by passive
active of facilitated transport mechanism. Small amounts of monosaccharide like
glucose , amino acid ,some of electrolytes such as chloride ions are generally
absorbed by simple diffusion. The passage of these substances into the blood
depends upon the concentration gradients.
Some substances such as fructose and some amino acids are absorbed with the
carrier ions of calcium .Transport of water depends on osmotic gradient . Active
transport occurs against the concentration gradients therefore it requires energy.
Various nutrients like amino acid and monosacharides like glucose electrolyte like
Na+ are absorbed into the blood by this mechanism . Fatty acids and glycerol
being insoluble , cannot be absorbed into the blood by this mechanism.
ABSORPTION AS A PROCESS
• Fatty acids and glycerol being insoluble , cannot be absorbed into the blood by
this mechanism. They are first incorporated into small droplets called micelles
which move to intestinal mucosa. They are re formed into very small protein
coated fat globules called the chylomicrons which are transported into the
lymph vessels (lacteals ) in the villi. These lymph vessels ultimately release the
absorbed substances into the blood stream .
Developmental Aspects of the Digestive
system
The gastrointestinal tract arises initially during the process of gastrulation from the
endoderm of the trilaminar embryo and extend from the buccopharyngeal membrane
to the cloacal membrane.
Glandular accessory organs( glands associated with the digestive system) form from
outpocketings of the foregut endoderm.
Mucosa grows from endoderm of GI tract to from a tube.
Mesoderm form the remaining 3 tunics ( sub mucosa, muscularis, and serosa) of the
GI tract.
Abnormalities of the GI tract include: cleft palate/lip which is the split of the roof of
the mouth that occurs when the tissues doesn’t fuse together during development in
the womb, tracheoseophageal fistula which is the an abnormal connection in one or
more places between the oesophagus and the trachea and cystic fibrosis which is the
hereditary disease that affects the lungs and digestive system(they all affect nutrition).
Inflammations that may affect nutrition: appendicitis, gastroenteritis, ulcers, food
poisoning.
Other problems include gallbladder problems.
Developmental Aspects of the digestive
system
 Efficiency of digestive system decline with age. This can be caused by
decreased nerve sensitivity, loss of muscle tone, and increased susceptibility to
bacterial infections because of weakened immune system.
 In the aging population, these conditions appear with increasing frequency
:Periodontal disease which is caused by infections, diverticulosis , faecal
incontinence which may be caused by many factors including nerve damage,
loss of storage capacity, and rectal prolapse, and GI tract cancers.
References
 Course, C. (2013, February 23). Digestive System Part 1. USA.
 Elaine Marieb,Katja Hoehn. (2013). Human Anatomy Na Physiology. USA,
Lake Ave: Pearson education.
 Hill, M.A. ( 2020, September 11) Embryology Gastrointestinal Tract
Development. Retrieved from https://embryology
.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Gastrointestinal Tract Development
 https:// courses. Lumenlearning.com/boundless-ap/chapter/development-of-
metabolism.