DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

The digestive system is a true system that develops from a unique structure and
keep going. The entirety of this device, including its ducts, is of endodermal origin its
The basic structure is the same throughout the entire journey, with a mucosal,
submucosal, muscular and adventitia or serosa and intrinsic submucosal and
muscular nerve plexuses, whose activity is modulated by extrinsic innervation
The digestive system is a group of organs, with associated glands, that is in charge
of receiving, decompose and absorb food and liquids. The various parts of the
system are specialized to perform the different functions: ingestion, digestion,
absorption and excretion. Food advances to along the digestive tract due to gravity
and peristalsis. Peristalsis propels the food by combining the muscle contraction of
one area and the relaxation of the next.
Several sphincters prevent food recoil (reflux). The reflections that act between the
different parts of the digestive tract, together with hormonal and neuronal factors,
determine the movement of food.
From the mouth to the anal sphincter, the digestive tube measures about eleven
meters in length. In the mouth already digestion begins properly. The teeth crush the
food and the secretions of the glands Salivals humidify them and initiate their
chemical degradation. Then, the food bolus thus formed in the mouth, crosses the
pharynx, continues through the esophagus and reaches the stomach, a muscular
bag of liter and a half of capacity, under normal conditions, whose mucosa secretes
the powerful gastric juice. In the stomach, the Food is stirred and processed into a
mixture called chyme.

At the exit of the stomach, the digestive tract is prolonged with the small intestine,
about six meters long very folded on itself. In its first portion or duodenum, it receives
secretions from the intestinal glands, bile and juices from the pancreas. These
secretions contain a large amount of enzymes that they are degrading and
transforming food into simple soluble substances.
The digestive tract continues through the large intestine just over a meter and a half
in length. Your portion final is the rectum, which ends in the anal sphincter, where
undigested remains are evacuated to the outside of the food.

In the total process of digestion are many organs involved: mouth, esophagus,
stomach, intestines (thin and thick), rectum and anus, which form the complete
digestive system. But not are considered part of the digestive system, other organs
are also involved in The digestion. These are the tongue, the salivary glands, the
pancreas, the liver and the gallbladder.

Functions of the digestive system

The digestive system fulfills various functions, which are transport, secretion,
absorption and excretion.

 Transport. The food is taken from the mouth, where it is crushed and converted
thanks to the saliva in a food bolus, to the stomach, then the intestines and finally
to the outside of the body, through a series of ducts with their own muscular
movement. the peristaltic movement.
 Secretion. Once contained in the stomach, the crushed food is subjected to the
action of the gastric juices segregated there, which dissolve the matter and
reduce it to its minimum chemical elements.
 Absorption. The simple forms extracted from the matter, its proteins, amino
acids, sugars, etc., are reduced to the minimum possible and are incorporated
into the organism, passing then to the blood and to the organism.
 Excretion. Once the nutrients have been extracted from the food, it is necessary
to expel the waste material out of the body, and this is done every so often,
through the end of the digestive tract, which in totality, from the mouth to the
anus, measures about eleven meters.