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Anatomy and Physiology of Stomach

The stomach lies between the esophagus and duodenum. It has four sections - cardia, fundus, body, and pylorus. The stomach walls contain four layers - mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and serosa. The mucosa contains gastric glands that secrete enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and mucus to aid in digestion. Specifically, parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid, chief cells secrete pepsin, and mucous cells secrete mucus. The stomach can hold around 1 liter after a meal and expands to digest and break down food before emptying into the small intestine.

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97 views4 pages

Anatomy and Physiology of Stomach

The stomach lies between the esophagus and duodenum. It has four sections - cardia, fundus, body, and pylorus. The stomach walls contain four layers - mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and serosa. The mucosa contains gastric glands that secrete enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and mucus to aid in digestion. Specifically, parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid, chief cells secrete pepsin, and mucous cells secrete mucus. The stomach can hold around 1 liter after a meal and expands to digest and break down food before emptying into the small intestine.

Uploaded by

Glenn_Ancheta_2074
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Anatomy and Physiology of Stomach

In anatomy, thestomach is a bean-shaped hollow muscular organ of the gastrointestinal tract involved in the
second phase of digestion, following mastication.

The stomach lies between the esophagus and the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). It is on the
left side of the abdominal cavity. The top of the stomach lies against the diaphragm. Lying beneath the
stomach is the pancreas, and the greater omentum which hangs from the greater curvature.

In humans, the stomach has a volume of about 50 mL when empty. After a meal, it generally expands to hold
about 1 liter of food, but it can actually expand to hold as much as 4 liters. When drinking milk it can expand
to just under 6 pints, or 3.4 liter.

Functions

 The stomach is a highly acidic environment due to gastric acid production and secretion which
produces a luminal pH range usually between 1 and 4 depending on the species, food intake, time of
the day, drug use, and other factors.
 Combined with digestive enzymes, such an environment is able to break down large molecules (such
as from food) to smaller ones so that they can eventually be absorbed from the small intestine.
 The human stomach can produce and secrete about 2 to 3 liters of gastric acid per day with basal
secretion levels being typically highest in the evening.
 Pepsinogen is secreted by chief cells and turns into pepsin under low pH conditions and is a necessity
in protein digestion.
 Absorption of vitamin B12 from the small intestine is dependent on conjugation to aglycoprotein
called intrinsic factor which is produced by parietal cells of the stomach.
 Other functions include absorbing some ions, water, and some lipid soluble compounds such as
alcohol, aspirin, and caffeine. Another function of the stomach is simply a food storage cavity.

Sections
The stomach is divided into four sections, each of which has different cells and functions. The
sections are:
 Cardia-Where the contents of the esophagus empty into the stomach.
 Fundus-Formed by the upper curvature of the organ.
 Body or corpus-The main, central region.
 Pylorus or antrum-The lower section of the organ that facilitates emptying the contents into the small
intestine

LAYERS

 Mucosa- The first main layer. This consists of an epithelium, the lamina propria underneath, and a thin
layer of smooth muscle called the muscularis mucosae.
 submucosa- This layer lies under the mucosa and consists of fibrous connective tissue, separating the
mucosa from the next layer. The Meissner's plexus is in this layer.
 muscularis externa- Under the submucosa, the muscularis externa in the stomach differs from that
of other GI organs in that it has three layers of smooth muscle instead of two.
 •inner oblique layer: This layer is responsible for creating the motion that churns and physically
breaks down the food. It is the only layer of the three which is not seen in other parts of the digestive
system. The antrum has thicker skin cells in its walls and performs more forceful contractions than the
fundus.
• middle circular layer: At this layer, the pylorus is surrounded by a thick circular muscular
wall which is normally tonically constricted forming a functional (if not anatomically
discrete) pyloric sphincter, which controls the movement of chyme into the duodenum. This
layer is concentric to the longitudinal axis of the stomach.
• outer longituditinal layer: Auerbach's plexus is found between this layer
and the middle circular layer.

• serosa- This layer is under the muscularis externa, consisting of layers of connective
tissue continuous with the peritoneum.
Secretions
The stomach is famous for its secretion of acid, but acid is only one of four major secretory
products of the gastric epithelium, all of which are important either to the digestive process or to
control of gastric function:
•

Mucus: The most abundant epithelial cells are mucous cells, which

cover the entire lumenal surface and extend down into the glands as "mucous neck cells". These
cells secrete a bicarbonate-rich mucus that coats and lubricates the gastric surface, and serves an
important role in protecting the epithelium from acid and other chemical insults.
•

Acid: Hydrochloric acid is secreted from parietal cells into the lumen

where it establishes an extremely acidic environment. This acid is important for activation of
pepsinogen and inactivation of ingested microorganisms such as bacteria.
•

Proteases: Pepsinogen, is secreted into gastric juice from both

mucous cells and chief cells. Once secreted, pepsinogen is activated by stomach acid into the
active protease pepsin, which is largely responsible for the stomach's ability to initiate digestion
of proteins.
•

Hormones: The principal hormone secreted from the gastric


epithelium is gastrin, a peptide that is important in control of acid
secretion and gastric motility.

A number of other enzymes are secreted by gastric epithelial cells, including a lipase and
gelatinase. One secretory product of considerable importance in man is intrinsic factor, secreted
by parietal cells that is necessary for intestinal absorption of vitamin B12.

Enzymes Secreted by the Mucosa


The mucosa is densely packed with gastric glands, which contain cells that
produce digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and mucus.
•

Mucous cells: secrete an alkaline mucus that protects the epithelium


against shear stress and acid
•

Parietal cells: secrete hydrochloric acid


•

Chief cells: secretepepsin, a proteolytic enzyme


G cells: secrete the hormonegastrin

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