The Digestive Process

Unit 3

The stomach

The stomach
2 valves what is a valve?
Cardia the entrance to the stomach
Pylorus the exit from the stomach
(to the small intestine)
How much time does food (the bolus)
stay in the stomach?

The stomach
2 valves what is a valve?
Cardia the entrance to the stomach
Pylorus the exit from the stomach
(to the small intestine)
How much time does food (the bolus)
stay in the stomach? (3 or 4 hours)

The stomach
2 valves what is a valve?
Cardia the entrance to the stomach
Pylorus the exit from the stomach
(to the small intestine)
How much time does food (the bolus)
stay in the stomach? (3 or 4 hours)
Food mixed with gastric juice =
chyme

The stomach
What is in gastric juice?

The stomach
What is in gastric juice?
Gastric juice contains pepsin and
hydrochloric acid.
Pepsin is an enzyme. It helps break
down proteins.
HCl destroys bacteria and activates
pepsin.

The stomach
The inside wall of the stomach is
covered in mucus. Why?
What makes the pylorus (entrance to
small intestine) open?
How is gastric juice produced?

The stomach
The inside wall of the stomach is covered in
mucus. Why?
Protection from enzymes and HCl
What makes the pylorus (entrance to small
intestine) open?
When the chyme becomes very acidic
How is gastric juice produced?
It is involuntary, and it happens when you
see or smell food and when food touches
mucus in mouth or stomach.

The small intestine

The small intestine

Tube, 6 or 7 meters long
Ileocaecal valve separates the small
intestine and the large intestine
3 sections of small intestine are:
What happens in the small intestine?

The small intestine

Tube, 6 or 7 meters long
Ileocaecal valve separates the small
intestine and the large intestine
3 sections of small intestine are:
duodenum, the U-shaped first section;
jejunum, second (and longest) section; and
ileum, the final section.
What happens in the small intestine?
Chyme mixes with digestive juices made by
the liver and pancreas.

The liver

The liver
Contains a lot of blood, so it is
reddish-brown.
Top-right of abdomen (covers part of
stomach)
The organ with the most different
functions!

The liver
The liver produces bile.
Bile is stored in the gall bladder.
The gall bladder is a hollow organ
near the duodenum.
When food enters the intestine, bile
enters the duodenum through the
ampulla of Vater.

The liver
Bile does NOT contain digestive
enzymes.
Bile contains bile salts.
Bile salts emulsify fats (break fats into
small pieces).
The liver also captures and destroys
most toxic substances that enter the
body (for example, alcohol).

The pancreas

The pancreas
Small organ located behind and
underneath the stomach.
The pancreas produces hormones
that regulate how much glucose is in
the blood.

The pancreas
The hormones are insulin and
glucagon.
Insulin decreases the amount of
sugar in the blood.
Glucagon stops insulin, and therefore
increases the amount of sugar in the
blood.

The pancreas
The pancreas secretes pancreatic juice.
Pancreatic juice enters the duodenum
through the ampulla of Vater.
Pancreatic juice contains digestive
enzymes.
These enzymes include: trypsin, which
breaks down proteins; and sodium
bicarbonate, which neutralizes acidic
chyme.

Review
Gastric, intestinal and pancreatic
juices, and bile are all secreted when
food is in the digestive tract.

Review

How does digestion work?

Most digestion happens in the small
intestine.
Chyme + pancreatic juice + intestinal
juice = chyle
1. food + saliva = food bolus
2. food bolus + gastric juice = chyme
3. chyme + pancreatic juice,
intestinal juice, and bile = chyle

How does digestion work?

Digestion produces nutrients that cells
need. These include:
monosaccharides (simple sugars) obtained from complex carbohydrates.
Examples: glucose and fructose
glycerol and fatty acids, obtained from
fats
amino acids, obtained from proteins

How are nutrients absorbed?

Cells need nutrients, and these come
from digestion.
Cells also need water, nutrients and
vitamins, and these are obtained
WITHOUT digestion.
Absorption - when nutrients go from
the small intestine into the blood.
The blood delivers these nutrients to
all cells.

How are nutrients absorbed?

Inside wall of small intestine is
covered in folds
On the folds are finger-like structures
called villi.
Villi are full of capillaries.
Capillaries are tiny blood vessels.
They carry blood from the smallest
arteries.

How are nutrients absorbed?

Plasma membrane of villi cells are
covered with smaller villi, called microvilli.
This is important because they increase
surface area.
More surface area = more space to
absorb nutrients!
The products released when fats are
digested are collected by capillaries in the
lymphatic system.

The large intestine

After nutrients are absorbed,
undigested food moves into the large
intestine through the ileocaecal
valve.
The large intestine is wider and
shorter than the small intestine.
The large intestine does not have any
microvilli.

The ileocaecal valve

The large intestine

The large intestine has three parts:
the caecum is the first part, and it is
connected to the appendix;
the colon is the second part, and it
contains symbiotic bacteria that
produce vitamins (for example, B12
and K); and
the rectum is the last section - it leads
to the anus.

The large intestine

The large intestine is where (almost)
all water absorption and mineral
absorption happens.
Waste products are made into faeces
here.
Peristalsis (remember what that is?)
moves the waste products through
the intestine. The final result is
defaecation.