The Digestive System

Dr. Ali Ebneshahidi

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 Functions of the Digestive System
 ingestion – the oral cavity allows food to enter the digestive
tract and have mastication (chewing) occurs , and the
resulting food bolus is swallowed .
 Digestion:
 Mechanical digestion – muscular movement of the digestive
tract (mainly in the oral cavity and stomach) physically
break down food into smaller particles .
 chemical digestion – hydrolysis reactions aided by
enzymes (mainly in the stomach and small intestine)
chemically break down food particles into nutrient
molecules , small enough to be absorbed . .

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 Secretion – enzymes and
digestive fluids secreted
by the digestive tract and
its accessory organs
facilitate chemical
digestion .
 Absorption – passage of the
end – products (nutrients)
of chemical digestion from
the digestive tract into
blood or lymph for
distribution to tissue cells .
 Elimination – undigested
material will be released
through the rectum and anus
by defecation .
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 Organization of The Digestive System
 Organs of the digestive system are divided into 2 main
group : the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) and
accessory structures .
 GI tract is a continuous tube extending through the
ventral cavity from the mouth to the anus – it consists
of the mouth , oral cavity , oropharynx , esophagus ,
stomach , small intestine , large intestine , rectum , and
anus .
 Accessory structures include the teeth, tongue (in oral
cavity) , salivary glands , liver , gallbladder , and
pancreas .
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Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Figure 23.1
 Muscular movement of the GI tract
 Peristalsis – wavelike movement that occurs from the
oropharynx to the rectum , allowing GI tract to push
food particles toward the anus .
 Mixing—mixing motion in the oral cavity and
stomach that allows the GI tract to repeatedly break
down food into smaller particles , using
mechanical digestion .
 Segmentation – regions of the small intestine
contracting and relaxing independently , allowing the
small intestine to digestive and absorb more efficiently
.
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 Histology of the Alimentary Canal

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 Peristalsis and Segmentation

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 Regulation of GI Tract Activities
 Autonomic nervous system
 - parasympathetic nerves stimulate GI tract activities .
 - sympathetic nerves inhibit GI tract activities .
 Hormonal control
 - hormones from endocrine gland and from GI tract
itself help regulate GI tract activities .
 Reflex mechanism
 - regions of the GI tract (especially the stomach and
small intestine) use reflexes to stimulate or inhibit one
another .

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 Nervous Control of the GI Tract

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 Mouth & Oral Cavity
 Food enters the GI tract by ingestion .
 Food is broken down by mechanical digestion ,
using mastication .
 One chemical digestive process occur where
amylase enzyme in saliva breaks down
polysaccharide into disaccharides .
 The tongue , made of skeletal muscle, manipulates the
food during mastication . it also contains taste buds to
detect taste sensations(intrinsic) .
 Food particles are mixed with saliva during
mastication , resulting in a moist lump called bolus for
easier passage into or pharynx .

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 Teeth
 Adapted for mechanical
digestion (mastication) in the
oral cavity .
 20 deciduous or primary
teeth before the age of
6.
 By age 7, 32 permanent or
secondary teeth are
developed & are divided
into 4 types: incisors (for
cutting)
, Canines (for tearing) ,
Premolars (for crushing),
and Molars (for grinding).
these teeth follow the
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 Salivary Glands
 3 pairs of salivary glands called parotid , submandibular ,
and sublingual gland secrete most of the saliva in the oral
cavity , using salivary ducts .
 Saliva helps moisten the food during mastication , dissolve
the food in forming the bolus , and help cleanse the teeth.
 Saliva consists of 99.5% water , the remaining 0.5% is
dissolved substances including amylase enzyme (for
chemically digesting carbohydrate ), bicarbonate
ion (HCO3-; maintains pH of saliva at 6.5-7.5) , and
many electrolytes.

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 Salivary Glands

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 Stomach
 A pouch-like organ primarily designed for food storage (for 2-4
hours) , some mechanical and chemical digestion also occur .
 Contains two sphincters at both ends to regulate food movement
– cardiac sphincter near the esophagus ,and pyloric sphincter
near the small intestine .
 Divided into 4 regions : cardiac stomach (or cardiac), fundic
stomach (or funded) , body of stomach , and pyloric stomach
(or Pylorus).
 Contain thick folds called rugae at its layer , for providing
larger surface area for expansion , secretion , digestion ,
and some absorption.

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 Stomach

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 Gastric Secretory Cells
 -Chief cells: secrete pepsinogen (an inactive enzyme).
 -Parietal cells: secrete hydrochloric and (HCl) and
"intrinsic factor" (which helps absorption of vitamin
B12 in the intestines).
 - Mucous cells: secrete mucus and alkaline substances
to help neutralize HCl in the gastric juice .
 -G cells: secrete a hormone called gastrin , which
stimulates the parietal cells and overall gastric
secretion .

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 Gastric Cells

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Chemical digestion & absorption in the stomach
 - Carbohydrate digestion is continued with gastric
amylase , resulting in disaccharides .
 - Protein digestion begins with pepsin (activation of
pepsinogen by HCl) , resulting in peptides (small chains of
protein).
 - Lipid digestion begins with gastric lipases which can only
break down certain lipids such as butterfat , resulting in
fatty acids .
 Absorption in the stomach is limited, where only small and
fat- soluble substances can be absorbed—water , alcohol,
aspirin , and certain drugs .
 The result of all these mixing , chemical digestion ,
secretion, and absorption is a yellowish paste called chyme ,
which
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Cummings
 Regulation of Gastric Secretion
 Regulation of gastric secretion and activities is by both
nervous and hormonal mechanisms – food moving along the
oral cavity and esophagus stimulates the parasympathetic
nerves to activate the secretion in gastric glands , the gastric
hormone from G cells in turn stimulates the gastric glands for
more activities ("positive feedback").

On the other hand , when food is emptying from the
stomach , sympathetic nerves inhibit the gastric glands and
gastric , and a hormone called intestinal gastrin (released by
small intestine) inhibits other gastric activities.
 The above regulations occur in 3 overlapping phases:
 Cephalic Phase, Gastric Phase, & Intestinal Phase.

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 Cephalic phase
 Cephalic phase: involves special senses detect food
and uses parasympathetic nerves in the vagus nerve to
stimulate gastric activities.
 1. Sight, Smell , and Taste of food cause stimulation
of vagus nuclei in brain.
 2. Vagus stimulates acid secretion.
 a. Direct stimulation of parietal cells (major effect).
 b. Stimulation of Gastrin secretion (lesser effect).

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 Gastric phase
 Gastric phase involves the distention of stomach and
stimulates its own activities by the vagus nerve. Distension of
stomach (stretch - receptors) stimulates vagus nerve ; vagus
stimulates acid secretion .
 Amino acids and peptides in stomach lumen srimulates
acid secretion (chemo - receptors)
 Direct stimulation of parietal cells (lesser effect)
 Stimulation of gastrin secretion ; gastrin stimulates
acid secretion (major effect)
 Gastrin secretion inhibited when PH of gastric juice falls
below 2.5.

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 Intestinal Phase
 intestinal phase involves acidic chyme passing into the small
intestine which secretes intestinal gastrin hormone to inhibit
gastric activates.
 Neural inhibition of gastric emptying and acid secretion. Arrival of
chyme in duodenum causes distension & an increase in osmotic
pressure. These stimuli activate a neural reflex that inhibits gastric
activity.
 In response to fat in chyme , duodenum secretes the hormone,
secretin that inhibits gastric acid secretion.
 The enterogastric reflex: This reflex begins in the small
intestine (entero) and ends in the stomach (gastro).
 Duodenum fills with chyme. Sensory stretch receptors are
stimulated. Sensory nerve impulses travel to CNS. Nerve impulses
from CNS (vagus) inhibit peristalsis in stomach wall.
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 Stomach: Neural & Hormonal Mechanisms

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 Pancreas
 Pancreas : most pancreatic enzymes are produced as inactivate
molecules , or zymogens , so that the risk of self – digestion within
the pancreas is minimized .
 More than 98% of the pancreas mass is devoted to its exocrine
function: the secretion of pancreatic juice by the pancreatic acini
and their ductile cells. Ductile cells produce Sodium bicarbonate
which helps neutralize the acidic gastric contents .
 Acinar cells of the exocrine pancreas produce a variety of
digestive enzymes to break down food substances into smaller
absorbable molecules .
 Only 2% of pancreas mass is devoted to the islets of langerham ,
which produce insulin and glucagon , hormones that regulate blood
sugar and carbohydrate metabolism (they have opposite effects) .
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 Major pancreatic Enzymes
 -pancreatic amylase: digest polysaccharides into disaccharides
 - pancreatic lipases digest triglycerides into fatty acids .
 - pancreatic nucleases digest nucleic acids into nucleotides .
 -Pancreatic proteinases (all secreted in their inactive forms) digest
peptides into amino acids:
Trypsinogen is activated by enterokinase (secreted by duodenum)
into trypsin , which in turn activates the other 3 enzymes –
chymo- trypsinogen becomes chymotrypisn ,
proaminopeptidase becomes aminopeptidase, and
procarboxypeptidase becomes carboxypeptidase.

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 Activation of pancreatic proteases in the small intestine

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 Pancreatic Secretion
 1.The parasympathetic nervous system increases
pancreatic secretion
 2. Two duodenual hormones also influence
pancreatic secretion: Secretin and Cholecystokinin.
 3. Food entering the small intestine stimulates the
secretion of both hormones.
 4. Secretin stimulates the secretion of pancreatic
electrolyte – rich fluid , while CCK enhances the
enzymatic secretions of the pancreas .

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 Regulation of pancreatic Juice
 1. Acidic chyme enters duodenum.
 2. Secretin is released into blood stream from
intestinal mucosa.
 3. Secretin stimulates pancreas.
 4. Pancreas secretes pancreatic juice.
 5. Pancreatic juice , high in bicarbonate ions ,
neutralizes acidic chyme.

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 Functions of The Liver
 Important in carbohydrate metabolism where hepatic cells
conduct glycogenesis (converting glucose into glycogen) , and
glycogenolysis (breaking glycogen down to glucose).
 Also is critical in lipid metabolism where hepatic cells produce
bile (for fat emulsification), oxidize fatty acids , synthesize
various forms of lipids ,and convert glucose to fatty acids
(lipogenesis) .
 Other functions of the liver include :
 - Storage of glycogen, iron , and vitamins A,D,B12.
 -Contains phagocytes to destroy damaged erythrocytes and
foreign substances, using phagocytosis .
 -Detoxifies harmful substances in the blood .
 -Serves as a blood reservoir (contains 7% of blood volume).
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 Liver

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 Gall Bladder
 A small sac located on the inferior , visceral surface of the liver.
 Stores and concentrates bile secreted by the liver.
 Regulation of Bile Release:
 1. Chyme with fat enters small intestine.
 2. Cells of intestinal mucosa secrete the hormone Cholecystokinin
(CCK) into the blood stream.
 3. CCK stimulates muscular layer of gallbladder wall to contract.
 4. Bile passes down the cystic duct and common bile duct
to duodenum .
 5. Hepatopancreatic sphincter relaxes and bile enters
duodenum.
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 Small Intestine
 A long tube, with a small diameter (about 1 inch), extending from
pyloric sphincter to the ileocecal valve .
 Divided into Duodenum, Jejunum, and ileum.
 1. Secretions of small intestine:
 a. Intestinal glands secrete a watery fluid that lack
digestive enzymes but provides a vehicle for moving
chyme to villi
.Intestinal enzymes include : maltase digests maltose into
glucose. sucrose digests sucrose into glucose and fructose .
lactase digests sucrose into glucose and glucose. peptidases
digest peptides into amino acids . lipases digest triglycerides into
fatty acids and glycerol . Nucleases digest nucleotides into
nitrogenous bases.
Enterokinase
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 b. Digestive enzymes embedded in the surfaces of microvilli
split molecules of sugars, proteins and fats .
 c. Regulation of small intestine secretions: secretion is stimulated
by gastric juice , chyme , and reflex stimulated by distension of the
small intestinal wall .

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 d. Each villus contains blood capillaries to absorb water , glucose ,
amino acids , vitamins , minerals , and short-chain fatty acids , and
also contains lymphatic capillaries called lacteals to absorb long –
chain fatty acids in the forms of micelles .
 e. Water is absorbed by osmosis , fatty acids are absorbed by diffusion
(since they are fat-soluble), and most other nutrients (glucose, amino
acids, & minerals) are absorbed by active transport.

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 Large intestine
 The last segment
of the GI tract ,
with a large
diameter (2-3
inches) , extending
from the ileocecal
valve to the anus .
 Divided into cecum ,
ascending colon ,
transverse colon ,
descending colon ,
sigmoid colon ,
rectum , anal
canal
, and anus.
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  The large intestine has little or no digestive function , although it
secretes mucus. Its mucosa has no villa or microvillus , but
cotains numerous goblet cells for secreting mucus to aid in the
formation of feces and maintain an alkaline condition .
 mechanical stimulation and parasympathetic impulses control
the rate of mucus secretion .
 The large intestine only absorbs water, electrolytes and some
vitamins .
 Many bacteria inhabit the large intestine , where they break
down certain indigestible substances and synthesize certain
vitamins .
 feces are formed and stored in the large intestine . Defecation
involves a reflex mechanism aided by voluntary contraction of
the diaphragm , abdominal muscles ,and the external anal
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 Major Hormones of The Digestive Tract
 1. Gastrin : (Gastric & intestinal) : released by Gastric cells , in
response to the presence of food. Causes Gastric glands to increase
their secretory activity.
 2. Somatostatin : (Gastric inhibitory peptides - GIP):
Inhibits secretion of acid by parietal cells.
 3. Cholecystokinin : released by intestinal wall cells , in response to
the presence of proteins and fats in the small intestine. It causes
gastric glands to decrease their secretory activity and inhibits
gastric motility ; stimulation of pancreas to secrete digestive
enzyme; stimulates gall – bladder to contract and release bile.
 4. Secretin: released by cells in the duodenal wall, in response
to acidic chyme entering the small intestine.

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 Major Digestive Enzyme
 Salivary enzyme: Begins carbohydrates digestion by breaking
down starch and glycogen to disaccharides
 Gastric enzymes: Pepsin , from Gastric glands – Begins protein
digestion . Lipase, from Gastric glands – Begins fat digestion .

Pancreatic enzymes: Amylase , from pancreas – breaks down
starch and glycogen into disaccharides. Lipase, from pancreas –
breaks down fats into fatty acids and glycerol .
 Proteolytic enzymes :
 Trypsin, Chymotrypsin, and Carboxypeptidase from pancreas
breaks down peptides into amino acids . Nucleases, from
pancreas- breaks down nucleic acids into nucleotides.

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 Intestinal Enzymes: Peptidase, from mucosal cells, breaks down
peptides into amino acids. Sucrase, maltase, and lactase , from
mucosal cells, breaks down disaccharides into monosaccharides.
Lipase, from mucosal cells, breaks down fats into fatty acid and
glycerol. Enterokinase , from mucosal cells, (breaks down) converts
trypsinogen into trypsin .

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 Fat digestion & Absorption

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 Clinical Terms
 Achalasia : failure of the smooth muscle to relax at
some junction in the digestive tube.
 Cholecystitis : Inflammation of the gallbladder.
 Chloelithiasis : stones in the gallbladder.
 Cholestasis : Blockage in bile flow from the gallbladder.
 Cirrhosis : liver cells degenerate and the
surrounding connective tissue thicken.
 Diverticulitis : Inflammation of small pouches that
sometimes form in the lining and wall of the colon.
 Dysentery : Intestinal infection.

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 Clinical terms
 Dyspepsia: Indigestion
 Dysphasia: Difficulty in swallowing
 Enteritis: Inflammation of the
intestine .

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