Anatomy & Physiology

• Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of foods into forms that cell
membranes can absorb.
• ingestion, propulsion, absorption and defecation
• The digestive system consists of the alimentary canal extending from the mouth to the
anus, plus accessory organs that empty into the alimentary canal

0. Accessory Organs
• Salivary glands secrete saliva, which contains enzymes that initiate breakdown of
carbohydrates.
• Liver produces bile, which emulsifies fat.
• Gallbladder stores bile and introduces it into the small intestine.
• Pancreas produces and secretes pancreatic juice, containing digestive enzymes and
bicarbonate ions, into small intestine.
0. Alimentary Canal
• Mouth – mechanical breakdown of food; begins chemical digestion of carbohydrates
• Pharynx connects mouth with the oesophagus
• Oesophagus peristalsis pushes food to stomach
• Stomach secretes acid and enzymes; mixes food with secretions to begin enzymatic
digestion of proteins
• Small intestine mixes food with bile and pancreatic juice; final enzymatic breakdown of
food molecules; main site of nutrient absorption
• Large intestine absorbs water and electrolytes to form feces
• Rectum regulates elimination of feces
• Anus

• The alimentary canal is a muscular tube about 8 meters long

• Parasympathetic impulses – increase activities of digestive system
• Sympathetic impulses – inhibit certain digestive actions
• Branches of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous
system extensively innervate the alimentary canal, including:
0. Submucosal plexus – controls secretions
0. Myenteric plexus – controls gastrointestinal motility

• The mouth:
⁃ Ingests food
⁃ Mechanically breaks up solid particles using saliva
 ⁃ Prepares food for chemical digestion (mastication)
• The cheeks form the lateral walls of the mouth.
• The lips are highly mobile structures that surround the mouth opening.
• The tongue is a thick, muscular organ that occupies the floor of the mouth and nearly
fills the oral cavity when the mouth is closed. It forces food into the pharynx.
• The palate forms the roof of the oral cavity and consists of a hard anterior part and a
soft posterior part.

• The teeth are the hardest structures in the body. There are primary (deciduous) teeth
numbering 20. There are secondary (permanent) teeth numbering 32.

• Salivary glands secrete saliva which begins the digestion of carbohydrates. There are
three pairs of major salivary glands, including:
0. Parotid glands secrete clear watery, serous fluid. It is rich in salivary amylase.
0. Submandibular glands secrete primarily serous fluid and some mucus.
0. Sublingual glands secrete primarily mucus.
• The different salivary glands have varying proportions of two types of secretory cells:
0. Serous cells produce a watery fluid with a digestive enzyme called salivary amylase.
0. Mucous cells secrete mucous.

• The pharynx is a cavity posterior to the mouth from which the tubular esophagus leads
to the stomach.
• Both the pharynx and esophagus muscular walls function in swallowing.
• The pharynx can be divided into the following parts:
0. Nasopharynx
0. Oropharynx
0. Laryngopharynx
• Swallowing can be divided into three stages:
0. Voluntary stage where saliva is mixed with chewed food.
0. Swallowing begins and the swallowing reflex is triggered.
0. Peristalsis transports food in the esophagus to the stomach.
• Peristaltic waves move food through the esophagus to the stomach.

• The stomach is a J-shaped, pouch-like organ, about 25-30 centimeters long.

• It hangs inferior to the diaphragm in the upper-left portion of the abdominal cavity
• The stomach has two layers of smooth muscle:
0. An inner circular layer
 0. An outer longitudinal layer
• Parts of the stomach:
0. Pyloric sphincter
0. Duodenum
0. Pylorus
0. Fundus
0. Gastric folds
0. Body

Gastric Secretions
• The mucous membrane of the stomach has tubular gastric glands that secrete:
0. Pepsinogen
⁃ from the chief cells
⁃ Inactive form of pepsin
0. Pepsin
⁃ From pepsinogen in the presence of hydrochloric acid
⁃ Is a protein splitting enzyme
0. Hydrochloric acid
⁃ From the parietal cells
⁃ Needed to convert pepsinogen to pepsin
0. Mucus
⁃ From the goblet cells and the mucous glands
⁃ Protective to stomach wall
0. Intrinsic factor
⁃ From the parietal cells
⁃ Is required for vitamin B12 absorption
• Gastric enzymes begin breaking down proteins, but the stomach is not well-adapted to
absorb digestive products.
• The stomach does absorb:
0. Some water
0. Certain salts
0. Certain lipid-soluble drugs
0. Alcohol
 • The pancreas has a dual function as both an endocrine gland and exocrine gland. The
exocrine gland's function is to secrete digestive juice called pancreatic juice.
• Pancreatic juice contains enzymes that digest carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and nucleic
acids, and include:
0. Pancreatic amylase – splits glycogen into disaccharides.
0. Pancreatic lipase – breaks down triglycerides.
0. Trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, and carboxypeptidase – digest proteins
0. Nucleases – digest nucleic acids
0. Bicarbonate ions – make pancreatic juice alkaline

• The liver is the largest internal organ. It is located in the upper-right abdominal quadrant
just beneath the diaphragm.
• Functions:
⁃ Produces glycogen from glucose
⁃ Breaks down glycogen into glucose
⁃ Converts non-carbohydrates to glucose
⁃ Oxidizes fatty acids
⁃ Synthesizes lipoproteins, phospholipids, and cholesterol
⁃ Converts carbohydrates and proteins into fats
⁃ Deaminating amino acids
⁃ Forms urea
⁃ Synthesizes plasma proteins
⁃ Converts some amino acids to other amino acids
⁃ Stores glycogen, iron, and vitamins A, D, and B12
⁃ Phagocytosis of worn out RBCs and foreign substances
⁃ Removes toxins such as alcohol and certain drugs from the blood

• Bile is a yellowish-green liquid that hepatic cells continuously secrete

• Bile contains:
0. Water
0. Bile salts
0. Bile pigments
0. Cholesterol
0. Electrolytes
 • Bile salts aid digestive enzymes. They reduce surface tension and break fat globules into
droplets (like soap or detergent) and this is called emulsification. They are recycled as they return to the
liver.
• They enhance absorption of fatty acids and cholesterol.
• They help absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

• The small intestine is a tubular organ that extends from the pyloric sphincter to the
beginning of the large intestine.
• It completes digestion of the nutrients in chyme, absorbs products of digestion, and
transports the remaining residue to the large intestine
• It consists of three parts that include:
0. Duodenum
0. Jejunum
0. Ileum

• Secretions of the small intestine

0. Peptidase – breaks down peptides into amino acids.
0. Sucrase, maltase, lactase – break down disaccharides into monosaccharides.
0. Lipase – breaks down fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
0. Enterokinase – converts trypsinogen to trypsin.
0. Somatostatin – hormone that inhibits acid secretion by stomach.
0. Cholecystokinin – hormone that inhibits gastric glands, stimulates pancreas to release
enzymes in pancreatic juice, and stimulates the gallbladder to release bile.
0. Secretin – stimulates the pancreas to release bicarbonate ions in pancreatic juice.

• Villi increase the surface area for absorption.

• The small intestine carries on mixing movements that include:
0. Peristalsis – pushing movements that propel chyme.
0. Segmentation – ring-like contractions that can move chyme back and forth.

• The large intestine is named because of its diameter.

⁃ Has little or no digestive function
⁃ Absorbs water and electrolytes
⁃ Secretes mucus
⁃ Houses intestinal flora
⁃ Forms feces
⁃ Carries out defecation
 ⁃ Its movement is slower and less frequent than that of the small intestine.
• It has five parts that include:
• Cecum
• Colon
• Ascending, transverse, descending and sigmoid
• Rectum
• Anus

• Feces is composed of materials not digested or absorbed, and include:

⁃ Water
⁃ Electrolytes
⁃ Mucus
⁃ Bacteria
⁃ Bile pigments altered by bacteria provide the color
• The pungent odor is produced by bacterial compounds including:
⁃ Phenol
⁃ Hydrogen sulphide
⁃ Indole
⁃ Skatole
⁃ Ammonia

Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

• Chromosomes – the carriers of the genes

• Chemical composition of the chromosome
0. Lipids
0. Proteins
0. Nucleic acids: DNA and RNA
• DNA – composed of two polynucleotide strands.
⁃ The two strands are anti parallel.
⁃ Specific pairing A = T, C = G
⁃ It forms a helical coil.
⁃ Sugar is 2 deoxy-Dribose.
 • RNA – composed of one polynucleotide strand.
⁃ Sugar is D ribose.
⁃ No presence of Thymine; replaced by Uracil

• Replication
⁃ DNA synthesis
⁃ formation of two identical DNA molecules
• Steps in replication process
0. Initiation
⁃ starts with ori-site
⁃ formation of single stranded DNA templates
⁃ requires helix unwinding proteins and single strand binding proteins
0. Elongation
⁃ leading strand
⁃ Primase (RNA primer)
⁃ 11 +1 nucleotides for prokaryote
⁃ 10 to 60 for eukaryotes
⁃ one RNA Primer
⁃ DNA Pol III 5’ to 3’ direction
0. Termination
⁃ two identical DNA molecules

• Transcription
⁃ RNA synthesis
⁃ products are:
0. mRNA (Messenger RNA) – carries the message
0. tRNA (tranfer RNA) – brings amino acids to the site of synthesis
0. rRNA (ribosomal RNA) – major component of the ribosomes
• Gene - contains the information for making one RNA and, in most cases, one
polypeptide.
• Promoter - a DNA sequence to which the transcription enzyme binds.
• RNA polymerase - main enzyme for transcription.

• PROKARYOTIC TRANSCRIPTION
0. Initiation
 ⁃ conserved sequences in the promoter
⁃ uses anti-coding or anti- sense DNA template strand
⁃ requires RNA Polymerase and Sigma factor
0. Elongation
⁃ RNA Polymerase
⁃ 5’ to 3’ direction with respect to the elongating RNA
0. Termination
⁃ RNA Polymerase
⁃ Rho Factor: Rho dependent & Rho independent

• Translation
⁃ polypeptide or protein synthesis
⁃ chain of amino acids linked by peptide bonds.
• Codon – a 3-base sequence in mRNA that specifies an amino acid.
• Anticodon – a 3-base sequence in a tRNA that base pairs with a specific codon.
• Genetic code - the set of 64 codons and the amino acids they stand for.
• Polypeptide - a single protein chain

DNA sequence: TAC TTA GTA GCA TAA

mRNA sequence: AUG AAU CAU CGU AUU amino acid sequence: met(M) Asn(N) His(H) Arg(R) Ile(I)

• George Beadle and Edward Tatum

0. One-gene one-enzyme hypothesis
⁃ a gene is responsible for an enzyme
⁃ an enzyme catalyzes a step in a metabolic reaction
⁃ Albinism
0. One-gene one-protein
⁃ Proteins are gene products.
⁃ Not all proteins are enzymes.
⁃ Keratin – structural protein of the hair
⁃ Insulin – hormone
0. One-gene one polypeptide
⁃ Haemoglobin – 2 alpha and 2 ß chains
⁃ Antibody – 2 heavy chain and 2 light chain
• Enzymes - catalyze metabolic reactions