DIGESTIVE

SYSTEM

MAIN STAGES OF FOOD PROCESSING

The main stages of food processing are
ingestion, digestion, absorption, and
elimination

1- INGESTION
Ingestion, the act of
eating is the first stage of
food processing.
Food is packaged in bulk
form where it contains very
complex arrays of
molecules including large
polymers and various
substances that may be
difficult to process or even
toxic

2- DIGESTION
Digestion, the second stage of food processing
Is the process of breaking food down into molecules,
small enough for body to absorb
Involves enzymatic hydrolysis of polymers into their
monomers

Chemical digestion is usually preceded by

mechanical fragmentation of the food (e.g:
chewing) breaking food into smaller pieces
increase surface area exposed to digestive
enzymes

3- ABSORPTION
Absorption, the third stage of food processing
Is the uptake of nutrients (e.g: amino acid,
glucose) by body cells

4- ELIMINATION
Elimination, the fourth stage of food
processing
Occurs as undigested material passes out of
the digestive compartment

The 4 stages of food processing

Small
molecules
Pieces
of food

Mechanical
digestion

Chemical digestion
(enzymatic hydrolysis)

Nutrient
molecules
enter body
cells

Undigested
material

Food

INGESTION 2 DIGESTION

ABSORPTION

ELIMINATION

ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Each organ of the mammalian digestive system
has specialized food-processing functions
The mammalian digestive system consists of the
alimentary canal and various accessory glands
that secrete digestive juices through ducts

HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Tongue

Sphincter

Oral cavity

Salivary
glands

Mouth

Pharynx

Esophagus

Esophagus
Sphincter
Stomach

Liver
Ascending
portion of
large intestine

Salivary
glands

Gallbladder
Pancreas

Gallbladder

Liver
Pancreas

Small
intestine

Small intestine
Large intestine

Duodenum of
small intestine

Stomach

Small
intestines
Large
intestines
Rectum
Anus

Rectum
Appendix
Cecum

Anus

A schematic diagram of
the human digestive system

 After food is chewed and swallowed

It takes 5-10 sec to pass down the esophagus

In stomach it spends 2-6 hour for being

partially digested

Final digestion & nutrient absorption occur

in the small intestine over a period of 5-6
hours
In 12-24 hours any undigested material
passes through the large intestine and the
feces expelled through the anus

 Food is pushed along the digestive tract by

peristalsis
Rhythmic waves of contraction of smooth
muscles in the wall of the canal

At some of the junction between

specialized compartments, the muscular
layer forms ringlike valves called
sphincters
Regulate the passage of material between
compartment

The Oral Cavity, Pharynx, and

Esophagus
In the oral cavity, food is lubricated and
digestion begins
And teeth chew food into smaller particles
that are exposed to salivary amylase,
initiating the breakdown of glucose
polymers
Mucin : slippery glycoprotein (carbohydrateprotein complex) in saliva protects the
lining of the mouth from abrasion & lubricates
food for easier swallowing

 Additional components of saliva include

buffers prevent tooth decay by neutralizing
acid and antibacterial agents
After food is deemed acceptable and chewing
commences, tongue movements manipulate the
food, helping shape it into a ball called bolus

The region we call our throat is the

pharynx
A junction that opens to both the esophagus
and the trachea
The esophagus connects to stomach, the
trachea leads to the lungs

The esophagus
Conducts food from the pharynx down to the
stomach by peristalsis

 Swallowing must be carefully

choreographed to keep food from entering
and blocking the airway
During swallowing, a flap of cartilage called
the epiglottis prevents from entering the
trachea by covering glottis
If the swallowing reflex fails, food or
liquid will reach the trachea and cause
choking

From mouth to stomach

Bolus of food

Tongue
Pharynx

Epiglottis
up

Glottis
Larynx
Trachea

Esophageal
Epiglottis
sphincter
contracted down
Esophagus
To lungs

To stomach

Glottis up
and closed

When a person is not

swallowing, the esophageal
sphincter muscle is contracted,
the epiglottis is up, and the
glottis is open, allowing air
to flow through the trachea
to the lungs.

2 The swallowing
reflex is triggered
when a bolus of
food reaches the
pharynx.

4 The esophageal
sphincter relaxes,
allowing the
bolus to enter the
esophagus.

Esophageal
sphincter
relaxed 5 After the food

has entered the

esophagus, the
larynx moves
downward and
opens the
breathing
3 The larynx, the
passage.
upper part of the 6
Waves of muscular
respiratory tract,
contraction
moves upward and
(peristalsis)
tips the epiglottis
move the bolus
over the glottis,
down the esophagus
preventing food
to the stomach.
from entering the
trachea.
Stomach

Epiglottis
up

Glottis
down
and open
Esophageal
sphincter
contracted

Relaxed
muscles
Contracted
muscles
Relaxed
muscles

The Stomach
The stomach stores food
and secretes gastric juice, which converts
a meal to acid chyme
Gastric juice
Is made up of hydrochloric acid and the
enzyme pepsin

 HCl disrupts the extracellular matrix that

binds cell together in meat and plant
material
Low pH kill the bacteria but also
denatures proteins in food, thus expose the
peptide bond
Pepsin :
Protein digestive enzyme / protease
Works best in strongly acidic environment
It cleaves protein into smaller polypeptides

 The lining of the stomach

Is coated with mucus, which prevents the
gastric juice from destroying the cells
Esophagu
s
Sphincter

Interior surface of stomach.

The interior surface of the
stomach wall is highly folded
and dotted with pits leading
into tubular gastric glands.
Gastric gland. The gastric
glands have three types of cells
that secrete different components
of the gastric juice: mucus cells,
chief cells, and parietal cells.
Mucus cells secrete mucus,
which lubricates and protects
the cells lining the stomach.
Chief cells secrete pepsinogen, an inactive form of the
digestive enzyme pepsin.
Parietal cells secrete
hydrochloric acid (HCl).

5 m

Stomach
Sphincter
Small
intestine

Folds of
epithelial
tissue

Epithelium

1 Pepsinogen and HCI

Pepsinogen
Pepsin (active enzyme) are secreted into the
2
lumen of the stomach.
HCl
1

Chief cell

2 HCl converts
pepsinogen to pepsin.

Parietal cell

3 Pepsin then activates

more pepsinogen,
starting a chain
reaction. Pepsin
begins the chemical
digestion of proteins.

 Gastric ulcers, lesions in the lining

Are caused mainly by the bacterium
Helicobacter pylori

Bacteria

1 m

Mucus
layer of
stomach

The Small Intestine

The small intestine
Is the longest section of the alimentary
canal
Is the major organ of digestion and
absorption

Enzymatic Action in the Small

Intestine
The first portion of the small intestine is the
duodenum
Where acid chyme from the stomach mixes with
digestive juices from the pancreas, liver,
gallbladder, and intestine itself
Liver

Bile

Gallbladder
Intestinal
juice
Duodenum of
small intestine

Stomach
Acid chyme
Pancreatic juice

Pancreas

 The pancreas produces proteases, proteindigesting enzymes

That are activated once they enter the
duodenum

 Enzymatic digestion is completed

As peristalsis moves the mixture of chyme and
digestive juices along the small intestine
Carbohydrate digestion
Oral cavity, Polysaccharides Disaccharides
pharynx,
(starch, glycogen)(sucrose, lactose)
Salivary amylase
esophagus

Protein digestion

Nucleic acid digestion

Fat digestion

Smaller polysaccharides,
maltose
Proteins
Pepsin

Stomach

Small polypeptides
Polysaccharides
Lumen of
small intestine

Pancreatic amylases
Maltose and other
disaccharides

Polypeptides
DNA, RNA
Pancreatic trypsin and
Pancreatic
chymotrypsin (These proteases
nucleases
cleave bonds adjacent to certain
amino acids.)
Nucleotides
Smaller
polypeptides
Pancreatic carboxypeptidase
Amino acids

Epithelium
of small
intestine
(brush
border)

Small peptides
Disaccharidases

Monosaccharides

Fat globules (Insoluble in

water, fats aggregate as
globules.)
Bile salts
Fat droplets (A coating of
bile salts prevents small droplets from coalescing into
larger globules, increasing
exposure to lipase.)
Pancreatic lipase
Glycerol, fatty
acids, glycerides

Nucleotidases

Dipeptidases, carboxypeptidase, and Nucleosides

aminopeptidase (These proteases split Nucleosidases
off one amino acid at a time, working and
from opposite ends of a polypeptide.) phosphatases
Nitrogenous bases,
Amino acids
sugars, phosphates

 Hormones help coordinate the secretion of

digestive juices into the alimentary canal
Enterogastrone secreted by the
duodenum inhibits peristalsis and
acid secretion by the stomach,
thereby slowing digestion when
acid chyme rich in fats enters the
duodenum.

Liver

Enterogastrone
Gallbladder

Gastrin

CCK
Stomach
Amino acids or fatty acids in the
duodenum trigger the release of
cholecystokinin (CCK), which
stimulates the release of digestive
enzymes from the pancreas and
bile from the gallbladder.

Pancreas

Gastrin from the stomach

recirculates via the bloodstream
back to the stomach, where it
stimulates the production
of gastric juices.

Secretin

Duodenum
CCK

Key
Stimulation
Inhibition

Secreted by the duodenum,

secretin stimulates the pancreas
to release sodium bicarbonate,
which neutralizes acid chyme
from the stomach.

Absorption of Nutrients
The small intestine has a huge surface area
Due to the presence of villi and microvilli
that are exposed to the intestinal lumen
The enormous microvillar surface
Is an adaptation that greatly increases the rate
of nutrient absorption

The structure of the small intestine

The

core of each villus

Contains a network of blood vessels
and a small vessel of the lymphatic
system called a lacteal
Microvilli
(brush border)

Vein carrying blood to

hepatic portal vessel

Blood
capillaries

Muscle layers
Villi
Key
Nutrient Intestinal wall
absorption

Epithelial
cells

Epithelial cells
Lacteal

Large
circular
folds
Villi

Lymph
vessel

 Amino acids and sugars

Pass through the epithelium of the
small intestine and enter the
bloodstream
After glycerol and fatty acids are
absorbed by epithelial cells
They are recombined into fats within
these cells

 These fats are

then mixed with
cholesterol and
coated with
proteins
Forming small
molecules called
chylomicrons,
which are
transported into
lacteals

Fat globule

Bile salts

1 Large fat globules are

emulsified by bile salts
in the duodenum.

Fat droplets
2 Digestion of fat by the pancreatic
enzyme lipase yields free fatty
coated with
acids and monoglycerides, which
bile salts Micelles made
up of fatty acids, then form micelles.
monoglycerides,
and bile salts
3 Fatty acids and monoglycerides leave micelles
and enter epithelial cells
by diffusion.
Epithelial
cells of
small Lacteal
intestine

4 Chylomicrons containing fatty

substances are transported out
of the epithelial cells and into
lacteals, where they are carried
away from the intestine by lymph.

The Large Intestine

The large intestine, or colon
Is connected to the small intestine

 A major function of the colon

Is to recover water that has entered the
alimentary canal
The wastes of the digestive tract, the feces
Become more solid as they move through
the colon
Pass through the rectum and exit via the
anus

The colon houses various strains of the

bacterium E. coli
Some of which produce various vitamins

 Evolutionary adaptations of vertebrate

digestive systems are often associated with
diet

Some Dental Adaptations

Dentition, an animals assortment of teeth
Is one example of structural variation
reflecting diet
Mammals have specialized dentition
That best enables them to ingest their usual
diet

Incisors

Canines
(a) Carnivore

(b) Herbivore

(c) Omnivore

Molars
Premolars

Stomach and Intestinal Adaptations

Herbivores generally have longer
alimentary canals than carnivores
Reflecting the longer time needed to digest
vegetation

Small intestine
Stomach
Small
intestine

Cecum

Colon
(large
intestine)

Carnivore

Herbivore

Symbiotic Adaptations
Many herbivorous animals have fermentation
chambers
Where symbiotic microorganisms digest
cellulose

 The most elaborate adaptations for an

herbivorous diet
Have evolved in the animals called ruminants
1 Rumen. When the cow first chews and
1swallows

a mouthful of grass, boluses

(green arrows) enter the rumen.

2 Reticulum. Some boluses

Intestine

Esophagus

4 Abomasum. The cud, containing great numbers of

microorganisms, finally passes to the abomasum for digestion
by the cows own enzymes (black arrows).

also enter the reticulum. In

both the rumen and the
reticulum, symbiotic prokaryotes
and protists (mainly ciliates) go
to work on the cellulose-rich
meal. As by-products of their
metabolism, the microorganisms
secrete fatty acids. The cow
periodically regurgitates and
rechews the cud (red arrows),
which further breaks down the
fibers, making them more
accessible to further microbial action.

3 Omasum. The cow then reswallows

the cud (blue arrows), which moves to
the omasum, where water is removed.