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Functions of the digestive system
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Overview of GI processes and Controls
The major functions of the digestive tract are usually summarized in 2 words: Digestion and Absorption The essential activities of the GI tract include: Ingestion Propulsion Physical food break down Chemical food break down Absorption Defecation
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Ingestion/ Propulsion
Ingestion: Food must be placed into the mouth, this voluntary process called ingestion Propulsion: Peristalsis is involuntary and involves alternating waves of contraction and relaxation of the muscles in the organ wall (primarily in the esophagus) In segmentation, single segments of the intestine alternately contract and relax: the food is mixed rather than propelled along the tract
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Mechanical Breakdown Mechanical breakdown happens:
In the mouth by the tongue In the stomach by churning In the small intestine by segmentation
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Chemical Breakdown The process of which large molecules are broken down to their building blocks: Building blocks of the 3 macromolecules: Carbohydrate : Monosaccharide The only carbohydrates that our digestive system is able to digest are sucrose (table sugar), lactose (milk sugar), maltose and starch Although we eat foods containing other polysaccharides, such as cellulose (found in vegetable), we do not have enzymes that break them down, thus they have no nutritional value, but help move the foodstuffs along the GI tract
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Chemical Breakdown 2. Proteins: Amino Acid 3. Lipids: Fatty acid and glycerol
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Absorption/Defecation
Absorption: The transport of digested end products from the lumen of the GI tract to the blood or lymph is absorption The small intestine is the major absorptive site Defecation: The elimination of indigestible substances from the body via the anus in the form of feces
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Control of the digestive system
Digestive activity is mostly controlled by reflexes via the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system The sensors involved in these reflexes are located in the walls of the alimentary canal organs and respond to a number of stimuli: Stretch of the organ by food in the lumen pH of the contents Presence of certain breakdown products of digestion
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Control of the digestive system
When the receptors are activated, they start reflexes that activate or inhibit: The glands that secrete digestive juices into the lumen or hormones into the blood The smooth muscles of the muscularis that mix and propel the foods along the tract
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Activities occurring in the mouth, pharynx and esophagus
Food ingestion and breakdown: First the food is physically broken down into smaller particles by chewing As the food is mixed with saliva, salivary amylase begins the chemical digestion of starch, breaking it down into maltose No food absorption occurs in the mouth The pharynx and esophagus have no digestive function
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Activities occurring in the mouth, pharynx and esophagus
Food propulsion: Deglutition, or swallowing, is a complicated process, it has 2 major phases: The voluntary buccal phase: (occurs in the mouth) Chewing and mixing The involuntary pharyngeal-esophageal phase: Transport food through the pharynx and esophagus
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Activities of the Stomach
Gastric juice: secreted by the stomach glands, it is regulated by both neural and hormonal factors: Gastrin: the presence of food and falling pH in the stomach stimulates the stomach to produce the hormone gastrin to help the stomach glands to produce more protein digesting enzymes Hydrochloric Acid: makes the stomach contents very acid, activates pepsinogen to pepsin, the active protein digesting enzyme
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Stomach related diseases
Ulcers: The digestion of the stomach itself caused by insufficient mucus production Heartburn: The inflammation of the esophagus, caused by the back flow of the gastric juice into the esophagus Hiatal Hernia: A structural abnormality in which the superior part of the stomach protrudes slightly above the diaphragm
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Activities of the Small Intestine
The microvilli of small intestine cells bear a few important enzymes: the brush border enzymes that break down double sugars into simple sugars and complete protein digestion Food entering the small intestine are literally flooded with pancreatic enzymes
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Pancreatic Enzymes Pancreatic juice contains enzymes that:
Along with brush border enzymes, complete the digestion of starch (pancreatic amylase) Carry out about half of protein digestion (via the action of trypsin, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase and others) Are totally responsible for fat digestion since the pancreas is the only source of lipases Digest nucleic acids (nucleases)
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Activities of the Small Intestine
When chyme enters the small intestine, it stimulates the mucosa cells to produce several hormones: secretin: causes the liver to increase its output of bile cholecystokinin (CCK): causes the gallbladder to contract and release stored bile into the bile duct so that bile and pancreatic juice enter the small intestine together
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Activities of the Small Intestine
Most substances: are absorbed by active transport then they enter the capillary bed in the villus to be transported in the blood to the liver via the hepatic portal vein Lipids: Are absorbed by diffusion Then they enter both the capillary bed and the lacteal in the villus and are carried to the liver by both blood and lymphatic fluid
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Activities of the Large Intestine
The colon itself produces no digestive enzymes The bacteria that live within the lumen: metabolize some of the remaining nutrients, releasing gases Produce vitamines ( vitamin K and B)
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Activities of the Large Intestine
2 major types of propulsive movements: Colon peristalsis: sluggish and contribute very little to propulsion Mass movements: long, slow-moving but powerful contractile waves that move over large areas of the colon and force the contents toward the rectum
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Activities of the Large Intestine
The rectum is generally empty, but when feces are forced into it by mass movements and its wall is stretched, the defecation reflex is initiated: It is a spinal reflex that causes the walls of the sigmoid colon the rectum to contract and the anal sphincters to relax
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