Digestive system

Objectives
1. Introduction
2. Define the digestive processes
3. Discuss functional anatomy of GIT
i. Mouth
ii. Pharynx
iii. Esophagus
iv. Stomach
 Objectives: Introduction
• The alimentary canal, also called the
gastrointestinal (GI) tract
• It digests food
• Absorbs the digested fragments through its lin
ing into the blood.
• The accessory digestive glands produce a
variety of secretions that help break down
foodstuffs.
 Objective 2: Digestive processes
• Ingestion: taking food into the digestive tract
(eating)
• Propulsion: moving food through the
alimentary canal (swallowing, peristalsis,
segmentation)
• Mechanical breakdown: Increase S/A for
digestion (chewing, mixing with saliva,
churning in the stomach and segmentation of
small intestines)
• Digestion: break down complex food
molecules to their chemical building blocks
(catabolism)
• Absorption: digested end products (plus
vitamins, minerals, and water) move from the
lumen of the GI cells by active or passive
transport into the blood or lymph.
• Defecation: eliminates indigestible substances
from the body
Stimuli and control of digestive activity
• All digestive tract regulatory mechanisms
control luminal conditions so that digestion
and absorption can occur there as effectively
as possible.
• This is accomplished through enteric nervous
system/gut brain
• Digestive activity is provoked by chemical and
mechanical stimuli
• Effectors of digestive activity are smooth
muscles and glands
• Neurons and hormones control the digestive
activity
Objective 3: Discuss Functional
anatomy of GIT
 i. Mouth
• Ingests food
• Begins mechanical digestion by chewing
• Mixes food with saliva
• Saliva contains enzymes that begin the
process of digestion.
• The mouth also begins the propulsive process
of swallowing
• Absorption does not occur in the mouth
• except for a few drugs that are absorbed
through the oral mucosa
• (for example, nitroglycerine used to alleviate
the pain of angina)
 Saliva
• Cleanses the mouth
• Dissolves food chemicals so they can be tasted
• Moistens food and helps compact it into a
bolus
• Contains the enzyme amylase that begins the
digestion of starchy foods
 Composition
• 97 to 99% water and therefore is
hypoosmotic.
• Slightly acidic (pH 6.75 to 7.00)
• Electrolytes (Na+, K+, c1-, P0 43-, and HC03-)
• The digestive enzymes salivary amylase and
lingual lipase
• The proteins mucin, lysozyme, and lgA
• Metabolic wastes (urea and uric acid)
• Lysozyme-a bactericidal enzyme that inhibits
bacterial growth in the mouth and may help
prevent tooth decay.
• When dissolved in water, the glycoprotein
mucin forms thick mucus that lubricates the
oral cavity and hydrates foodstuffs
 Control of salivation
• Minor salivary glands secrete saliva
continuously in amounts just sufficient to keep
the mouth moist.
• When food enters the mouth, the major
glands are activated and large amounts of
saliva pour out
• Average output of saliva is about 1500 ml per
day
• Salivation is controlled primarily by the
parasympathetic division
• When we ingest food, chemoreceptors and
mechanoreceptors in the mouth send signals
to the salivatory nuclei in the brain stem (Pons
and medulla)
• Parasympathetic nervous system activity
increases.
• Impulses sent via motor fibers in the facial
(VII) and glossopharyngeaL (IX) nerves
dramatically increase the output of watery
(serous), enzyme-rich saliva.
• The chemoreceptors are activated most
strongly by acidic substances
• The mechanoreceptors are activated by
virtually any mechanical stimulus in the mouth
• The thought, sight or smell of food is enough
to stimulate salivation
• Irritation of the lower GI tract by bacterial
toxins, spicy foods, or hyperacidity also
increases salivation.
• This response may help wash away or
neutralize the irritants.
• The sympathetic division (specifically fibers in
T1-T3) causes release of a thick, mucin-rich saliva
• Strong activation of the sympathetic division
constricts blood vessels serving the salivary
glands and almost completely inhibits saliva
release, causing a dry mouth
• Dehydration also inhibits salivation because low
blood volume reduces filtration pressure at
capillary beds.
 ii.Pharynx
• the pharyngeal constrictor muscles Contract
and propel food into the esophagus below.
 iii. Esophagus
• As food moves through the laryngopharynx,
the epiglottis closes off the larynx and
incoming food is routed posteriorly into the
esophagus.
• Gastroesophageal or cardiac sphincter is
closed when food is not being swallowed
• Mucous cells on both sides of the sphincter
help protect the esophagus from reflux of
stomach acid.
 Swallowing
• Mouth and esophagus help in food propulsion
• This is accomplished through
deglutition/swallowing
• Food is first compacted by the tongue into a
bolus and is then swallowed.
• Deglutition phases include: Buccal phase &
pharyngeal-esophageal phase
 Buccal phase
• Occurs in the mouth and is voluntary.
• The upper esophageal sphincter is contracted
(closed)
• The tongue presses against the hard palate
forcing the food bolus into the oropharynx
• Ends when a food bolus or a "bit of saliva"
leaves the mouth and stimulates tactile
receptors in the posterior pharynx, initiating
the next phase.
 Pharyngeal-esophageal phase
• Is involuntary
• Controlled by the swallowing center in the brain
stem (medulla and lower pons).
• Vagus nerves, transmit motor impulses from
the swallowing center to the muscles of the
pharynx and esophagus
• The tongue blocks the mouth
• The soft palate and its uvula rise, closing off the
nasopharynx.
• The larynx rises so that the epiglottis blocks the
trachea.
• The upper esophageal sphincter relaxes; food
enters the esophagus.
• The constrictor muscles of the pharynx
contract, forcing food into the esophagus
inferiorly.
• The upper esophageal sphincter contracts after
food enters.
• Peristalsis moves food through the esophagus
to the stomach.
• The gastroesophageal sphincter surrounding
the cardial orifice opens.
• After food enters the stomach, the sphincter
closes, preventing regurgitation.
• Solid foods pass from the oropharynx to the
stomach in about 8 seconds, and fluids, aided
by gravity, pass in I to 2 seconds.
 iv. Stomach
• A holding area for ingested food
• Degrades food both physically and chemically
• Food is converted into a slurry called chyme
• Gastric glands produce the stomach secretion
called gastric juice
• Secretory cells of gastric glands include
mucous neck cells, parietal, chief and
enteroendocrine cells
• Mucus neck cells-produce thin soluble mucus
• Parietal cells-produce HCL and intrinsic
factor(HCL enhances the activity of pepsin,
denatures proteins and kills bacteria while
intrinsic factor is a glycoprotein required for
vitamin B 12 absorption in the small intestine)
• Chief cells produce pepsinogen and lipases
that account for 15% of lipolysis
• Pepsinogen is converted to pepsin by HCL
• The produced pepsin also converts
pepsinogen to pepsin through a positive
feedback mechanism
• Enteroendocrine cells: they produce
serotonin, histamine, somatostatin and gastrin
• Stomach is protected from autodigestion by
the mucosal barrier
• Barrier is created through:
– A thick coating of bicarbonate-rich mucus
– Tight junctions on epithelial mucosa
– High rate of replacement of damaged mucosal
cells (every 3-6days)
Digestive processes in the stomach
• Propulsion
• Mechanical breakdown
• Protein digestion through pepsin and rennin in
children acts on milk protein casein
• Fat digestion through lingual and gastric lipase
• Absorption of alcohol and aspirin
• NB: The only gastric fx essential to life is intrinsic
factor production(production of mature
erythrocytes-pernicious anemia)
 Regulation of gastric secretion
• Gastric mucosa pours out as much as 3 L of
gastric juice
• Both neural and hormonal mechanisms
control gastric secretion.
• Neural controls consist of both long (vagus
nerve-mediated) and short (local enteric)
nerve reflexes
• In each case, acetylcholine (ACh) is released,
stimulating the output of gastric juice
• When the stomach is stimulated by the vagus
nerves (which are parasympathetic) secretory
activity of virtually all of its glands increases
• Activation of sympathetic nerves depresses
secretory activity
• Hormonal control of gastric secretion is largely
through gastrin
• It stimulates secretion of HCl by the stomach
• Control of HCL-secreting parietal cells is
stimulated by Ach, gastrin and histamine
• Gastric secretion phases include: cephalic,
gastric and intestinal phases
 Cephalic phase
• Occurs before food enters the stomach
• Triggered by the aroma, taste, sight, or
thought of food
• These triggers act via the vagus nerve to
stimulate gastric glands, getting the stomach
ready for its digestive chore.
 Gastric phase
• Local neural and hormonal mechanisms
initiate the gastric phase once food reaches
the stomach
• This phase lasts three to four hours and
provides about two-thirds of the gastric juice
released.
• Secretory stimuli are distension, peptides, and
low acidity
 Stimulation of gastric phase
• Stomach distension activates stretch receptors
and initiates both short and long reflexes.
• In the long reflexes, impulses travel to the
medulla and then back to the stomach via
vagal fibers.
• Chemical stimuli provided by partially digested
proteins, caffeine, and rising pH directly
activate gastrin-secreting enteroendocrine
cells called G cells in the stomach antrum
• Gastrin plays a major role in stimulating
parietal cells to secrete HCL
• When protein foods are in the stomach, the
pH of the gastric contents generally rises
because proteins act as buffers to tie up H+
• The rise in pH stimulates gastrin secretion and
subsequently HCI release, which in turn
provides the acidic conditions needed to
digest proteins
• The more protein in the meal, the greater the
amount of gastrin and HCL released
• As proteins are digested, the gastric contents
gradually become more acidic, which again
inhibits the gastrin-secreting cells.
• This negative feedback mechanism helps
maintain optimal pH and working conditions
for gastric enzymes.
 Inhibition of gastric phase
• Highly acidic (pH below 2) gastric contents
inhibit gastrin secretion
• Stress, fear, anxiety, or anything that triggers
the fight-or-flight response inhibits gastric
secretion because the sympathetic division
overrides parasympathetic (vagal) controls of
digestion
 Intestinal phase
Stimulation:
• partially digested food fills the first part
(duodenum) of the small intestine
• This stimulates intestinal mucosa cells to
release intestinal (enteric) gastrin, a hormone
that encourages the gastric glands to continue
their secretory activity.
 Inhibition
• Distension of the duodenum or the presence
of acidic, fatty, or hypertonic chyme inhibit
gastric secretion trigger neuronal and
hormonal controls
• Enterogastric reflex: The duodenun inhibits
acid secretion in the stomach by short reflexes
through the enteric nervous system and by
long reflexes involving sympathetic and vagus
nerves.
Enterogastrones:
• Hormones produced by duodenum.
• The two most important enterogastrones
• are secretin (se-kre'tin) and cholecystokinin
(CCK)
• The enterogastrones inhibit gastric secretion
 Mechanism of HCL production :
STEPS
• Interstitial co2 diffuses into parietal cell, combines with
water to form carbonic acid
• Carbonic acid dissociates into bicarbonate and hydrogen
ions due to carbonic anhydrase
• H+-K+ atpase pumps potassium into the parietal cells and
H+ into the stomach lumen
• Bicarbonate leaves the cells and enters the blood stream
(alkaline tide)
• Cl- from interstitial fluid enters the parietal cell in return
• Cl- diffuses through the membrane channels into the
lumen