Human Digestive System

Human Torso Model

5 Digestion Processes (IDAAE)

Ingestion: taking in of food into the body. Digestion: breaking down of food into simpler substances Absorption: diffusion of food from small intestine into the blood Assimilation: using digested nutrients to make new material Egestion: removal of undigested waste material
4

Digestion
Mechanical / physical digestion physically breaks down the food in the mouth (chewing). Smaller pieces of food increase surface area for digestion. It also takes place in the stomach (churning of food by the muscular stomach walls) Chemical digestion uses enzymes to chemically break down complex food substances into their simplest form. e.g. amylase Starch maltose
5

Chemical digestion: Starch (carbohydrate) digestion: in mouth and small intestine. Protein digestion: in stomach and small intestine Fat digestion: only in small intestine Why must food be digested??? Large molecules of food are unable to pass through cell membranes, thus must be broken down into small molecules so that they can diffuse through cell membranes into the blood stream
6

THE ALIMENTARY CANAL

ORAL CAVITY (MOUTH) OESOPHAGUS STOMACH SMALL INTESTINE duodenum, jejunum & ileum LARGE INTESTINE colon & rectum

DIGESTIVE GLANDS AND JUICES

DIGESTIVE GLANDS DIGESTIVE JUICES

Salivary glands Stomach wall Liver Pancreas

Intestinal wall

Saliva salivary amylase / ptyalin Gastric juice HCL, pepsin, rennin Bile bile salts Pancreatic juice amylase, lipase, trypsin/protease Intestinal juice erepsin, maltase, sucrase, lactase
8

Mouth (Ahhh....)
Mouth ingests food Teeth masticates food into small pieces to increase surface area for digestion Saliva (pH 7) moisten and soften food Starch maltose Tongue mixes food with saliva and rolls food into a bolus before swallowing Saliva - water, mucus, salivary amylase / ptyalin
Salivary amylase
9

10

Swallowing

11

What Happens During Breathing and Swallowing?

Normally, air passes into the trachea (windpipe) while food passes into the oesophagus.
pharynx

During breathing, the larynx is lowered and the glottis is open.

air larynx (voice-box)

glottis

oesophagu s

trachea (windpipe)
12

What Happens During Breathing and Swallowing?

During swallowing, the larynx is raised and the glottis is covered by the epiglottis. This prevents food particles from entering the trachea.
epiglottis

pharynx food particles

glottis larynx (voice-box) trachea (windpipe)

oesophagu s

13

What Happens During Breathing and Swallowing?

Occasionally, small particles of food or water may get into the larynx or trachea.
food particles

larynx (voice-box) trachea (windpipe)

14

What Happens During Breathing and Swallowing?

This automatically induces violent coughing to force the food particles or water out and to prevent choking.
larynx (voice-box) trachea (windpipe)

food particles

15

Oesophagus
Minimal digestion Carries food from mouth to stomach by peristalsis Oesophagus has circular and longitudinal muscles which are antagonistic. When circular muscles contract, longitudinal muscles relax and vice-versa.

16

Peristalsis
Part of the gut wall

The two layers of muscles cause rhythmic, wave-like contractions of the gut walls. Such movements are known as peristalsis. circular

Peristalsis:

muscles

enables food to be mixed with the digestive juices; and moves the food along the gut.
longitudinal muscles

17

Wall here dilates

Direction of movement of food

Circular muscles relax

Wall here constricts. Circular muslces contract; longitudinal muscles relax

Longitudinal muscles contract

18

Peristalsis

Move the food down!

When circular muscles contract, longitudinal muscles relax. Gut wall constricts i.e. gut becomes narrower and longer. Food is squeezed or pushed forward. Gravity and slippery mucous lining helps push food down too.
http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digesti on/basics/peristalsis.html
19

Stomach
Stores food temporarily Stomach muscles churns and mixes food (also by peristalsis) with gastric juice to form chyme. Gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid (HCl) and enzymes like rennin and pepsin HCl is very acidic (pH2), thus it kills bacteria and other microorganisms, as well as stopping the action of salivary amylase Provides acidic medium for gastric enzymes to work Only protein digestion here
20

HCl converts inactive pepsinogen and prorennin to their active forms

+ water casein

+ pepton

21

 The stomach is guarded at the entrance and exit points by sphincter muscles which control the amount of food entering and leaving the stomach.
22

Small Intestine
Subdivided into duodenum, jejunum and ileum In the small intestine, chyme stimulates
1. Pancreas to secrete pancreatic juice 2. Gall bladder to secrete bile 3. Intestinal glands to secrete intestinal juice

All three juices secreted are alkaline, pH 8.5

23

Pancreatic and intestinal juice contain many digestive enzymes. Bile does not contain enzymes. Bile emulsifies fats, increasing the surface area for lipase action

bile duct

2 bile

1 pancreatic juice
pancreatic duct

3 intestinal juice
24

Duodenum
pancreatic amylase Starch + water maltose proteases Peptones + polypetides peptides lipase Fats + water fatty acids + glycerol

Duodenum, jejunum & ileum

Maltose + water protease Peptides
maltase

glucose amino acids

Lactose + water Sucrose + water

lactase sucrase

glucose + galactose glucose + fructose

Note that the small intestine is the main site of digestion of food and absorption of nutrients.
25

26

27

Large Intestine (colon)

Large inverted U shaped tube. No digestion takes place here Absorbs water and minerals salts Stores the faeces (dead cells, mucus, germs, undigested food)

28

Is the colon the main region for water absorption? No! About 94% of the total amount of water passing through the alimentary canal is absorbed by the small intestine! The large intestine absorbs most of the remaining 6% of water. Rectum temporarily stores faeces Anus egests (= removal of undigested matter) faeces
29

Organs associated with the alimentary canal

These organs do not digest food but aid in digestion Gall bladder Pancreas Liver

30

Gall bladder
Temporarily stores bile (smelly green substance) secreted by liver. Secretes bile in the presence of chyme. Bile breaks up large fat droplets into very small fat droplets to increase surface area for lipase action (Emulsification) Bile emulsifies fats *Bile is not an enzyme, so it is not affected by temperature
31

Pancreas
Connects to small intestine by pancreatic duct Produces pancreatic juice Secretes hormones like insulin (controls blood glucose concentration) and glucagon (controls carbohydrate metabolism)

Liver
Produces bile, which is stored in the gall bladder
32

Absorption
Adaptations of the small intestine to increase the surface area

Small intestine is very long (~5 m) Internal surface of the small intestine has many folds. On these folds, there are many finger-like projections called villi On the epitheliumof each villus, there are fine projections called microvilli

33

34

Blood capillaries transport sugars and amino acids away from the small intestine

One cell thick epithelium for efficient absorption of food particles

Lacteal fatty acids and glycerol recombine in the epithelium to form fat which then enters the lacteal as fine fat droplets

This continual transport of digested food substances maintains the concentration gradient for the absorption of digested food substances. 35

 Simple sugars, amino acids, mineral salts, water-soluble vitamins(B and C) and 95% of water are absorbed into the blood capillaries in villi through diffusion - nutrients diffuse across a region of high concentration (lumen of the small intestine) to the bloodstream, which has a lower concentration. Note that absorption by active transport is also possible.
36

 The blood capillaries in the small intestine unite to form larger blood vessels, which unite to form the hepatic portal vein, which transports the nutrients to the liver.

37

What happens to amino acids and glucose after absorption?

Molecules pass into the epithelial cells Through walls of capillaries in the villus and into bloodstream The capillaries join up to form veins Veins unite to form 1 large vein: Hepatic Portal Vein Hepatic portal vein carries blood to liver Liver stores or alters products of digestion

Products released from liver into general blood circulation

38

39

Glucose
Glucose is used by all cells as a source of energy. Excess glucose returned to liver and stored as glycogen. Insulin stimulates liver to convert glucose into glycogen. When the body needs energy, glycogen is converted back to glucose.

Amino Acids
Amino acids which enter the cells are converted into new protoplasm that is used for growth and repair. Amino acids used to form enzymes and hormones. Excess amino acids deaminated by liver.

40

What happens to fatty acids and glycerol after absorption?

Molecules diffuse into the epithelial cells of villus
Recombine into fat droplets

Fats enter the lacteals

Transported out from lacteal by lymphatic ducts Lymphatic ducts finally open into the left subclavian vein in the region between neck and the shoulder

41

Fats
Blood carries fats to all parts of the body, especially to the liver. When there is enough glucose, fats are not broken down but are used to build protoplasm. When there is insufficient glucose, fats are broken down to provide energy. Excess fats stored in adipose tissues.

42

Villi absorption by diffusion

Diffusion

From intestine

To liver

43

Assimilation
After travelling through the blood stream to the rest of the body, cells can now make use of
glucose as source of energy amino acids to build new cytoplasm and tissue cells fatty acids to build new cell membranes

44

Functions of the Liver

1. Regulation of blood glucose concentration
Excess glucose will be converted to glycogen

2. Production of bile
Liver produces bile which is stored in the gall bladder

45

Functions of the liver

3. Deamination
Excess amino acids are transported to the liver, where their amino groups are removed and converted to urea.

46

Functions of the liver

4. Protein synthesis
Liver uses amino acids to synthesizes plasma proteins and enzymes, e.g. fibrinogen, prothrombin (for blood clotting)

47

Functions of the liver

6. Detoxification
Liver cells contain alcohol dehydrogenase to break down alcohol. Excessive alcohol is harmful. Alcohol stimulates acid secretion in the stomach and increases risk of gastric ulcers. Prolonged alcohol abuse may lead to liver cirrhosis (destruction of liver cells), which can lead to liver failure and death.

48