UNIVERSIDAD DE CARABOBO

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS DE LA SALUD

ESCUELA DE MEDICINA DR.WITREMUNDO TORRREALBA
DEPARTAMENTO DE IDIOMAS
SEDE ARAGUA

Prof.

Elaborado por:

Carmen Granado

Br. Leonel Monserratt

Ingles Instrumental

Br. Helbert Moreno

Br. Rommary Morillo
Seccin 9
11 De Diciembre del 2014

The Small Intestine

The small intestine is the part of the gastrointestinal tract, which lies between
the stomach and the large intestine, and is where much of the digestion and
absorption of food takes place. The small intestine is divided into three structural
parts: duodenum, jejunum, and ileum; this receives the bile juice and pancreatic
juice through the conduit hepatopancreatic controlled by the sphincter of Oddi.
Measurement
The measure of the small intestine in an adult hu man male is approximately
6.9 m, and in an adult female is approximately 7.1 m, these measures, may vary
greatly, from as short as 4.6 m or as long as 9.8 m , and the diameter of the small
intestine is approximately 2.5 to 3 cm .
Structure
Like the rest of the gastrointestinal tract, the small intes tine is made up of
four layers of tissue:
The mucosal layer forms the inner layer of epithelial tissue and is specialized
for the absorption of nutrients from chyme.
The submucosal layer is located below the mucosa, provides blood vessels,
lymphatic vessels, and nerves to support the mucosa on the surface.
The muscular layer consists of several layers of smooth muscle tissue; the
surface layer is longitudinal and deep layer is circular. These form the
muscular layer that contracts and moves in the small intestine.
Finally, the serous layer forms the outermost layer of epithelial tissue, which
is continuous with the mesentery. The small intestine is surrounded by serous
layer.
Parts of the Small Intestine
As mentioned previously, the intestine is divided into three structural parts:
duodenum, jejunum and ileum . Duodenum is characterized by their overlap almost
complete the posterior parietal peritoneum; in other words the duodenum is the
portion fixed of the small int estine. On the other hand, Jejunum and ileum
represent the movable portion of the small intestine .

Diagram showing the small intestine and surrounding structures

Duodenum
The duodenum is the first section of intestine that extending from the pyloric
sphincter of the stomach to the duodenojejunal flexure, its located in the two
floors (supracolic and inframesocolic) of the abdomen.
It is the shortest region of the small in testine, measuring only about 25 to
30cm. The duodenum is a C-shaped organ, the head of the pancreas is surrounded
by the duodenum, the journey that the duodenum takes around the head of the
pancreas is called "duodenal framework". The duodenum is a muscular and fixed
organ; is divided into four parts, only the first portion of the duodenum is motile,
and the termination of the duodenum correspond the duodenojejunal flexure.
The Absorption of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients begins in the
duodenum, partially digested foods, from the stomach is mixed with bile from the
liver and pancreatic juice from the pancreas to complete its digestion in this organ.
Its contains Brunner's glands, which produce a mucus -rich alkaline secretion
containing bicarbonate. These secretions, in combination with bicarbonate from
the pancreas, neutralize the stomach acids contained in gastric chyme
Jejunum and Ileum
The jejunum and ileum are the part of the small intestine that lies between the
duodenojejunal flexure, at its proximal end, and the ileocecal junction, in distal
end. Its a long, tubular organ, so its essentially characterized by the length,
which forces him to describe numerous windings in the abdominal cavity; these are
formed by thin handles.
Jejunum and Ileum are muscular and motile organs, thanks to the length of its
meso, the mesentery, which connects it to the posterior abdominal wall. The
mesentery is part of the peritoneum, and the arteries, veins, lymph vessels and
nerves travel within it, also the jejunum and ileum have important digestive
functions.
The jejunum lies between the duodenum and the ileum. The jejunum is
considered to begin at the attachment of the suspensory muscle of the duodenum to
the duodenum; this location is called the duodenojejunal flexure. The division

between the jejunum and ileum is not anatomically distinct. In adult humans, the
small intestine is usually between 6 -7m long, about two fifths correspond to the
jejunum.
The surface of the jejunum exposed to food, is covered in finger like
projections of mucosa, called villi, which increase the surface area of tissue
available to absorb nutrients from ingested foodstuffs. The epithelial cells which
line these villi have microvilli. The transport of nutrients across epithelial cells
through the jejunum and ileum includes the passive transport of sugar fructose and
the active transport of amino acids, small peptides, vitamins, and most glucose.
It also contains circular and longitudinal smooth muscle which helps to move
food along to surface by a process known as peristalsis.
The ileum is the final section of the small intestine. Its a continuation of the
duodenum and jejunum and it connects with the cecum, the first part of the large
intestine, at the ileocecal junction.
There is no line of demarcation between the jejunum and the ileum. There are,
however, subtle differences between the two, for example t he ileum has more fat
inside the mesentery than the jejunum , while the length of the intestinal tract
contains

lymphoid

tissue,

only

the

ileum

has

abundant

Peyer's

patches,

unencapsulated lymphoid nodules that contain large numbers of lymphocytes and

other cells of the immune system, On the other hand externally, the jejunum is
color dark red and ileum is a pale pink.
In humans, the ileum is about 2 4 m long, and contains villi, similar to the
jejunum. Its absorbs mainly vitamin B12 and bile acids, as well as any other
remaining nutrients.

Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jejunum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_intestine
http://www.innerbody.com/image_digeov/dige10 -new3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ileum
http://on-line.ucol.ac.nz/mt100/Digest5.jpg
Ingles Intrumental, guia de estudios para vlos estudiantes de 1er ao de
medicina, page 15, 17, 18, 26 and 36.

Clinical Anatomy, Eduardo Adrian Pr, Panamericana 2012, pages 568, 569,
and 573.