General Histology of the Digestive System

The digestive system consists of the alimentary canal and its principal associated organs,
namely, the tongue, teeth, salivary glands, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder.

The GIT mucosa performs numerous functions:

Secretion
Absorption
Barrier
Immunologic protection

Tongue: The tongue is a muscular organ projecting into the oral cavity from its inferior surface.
 Mucosa:
 Epithelium: Stratified squamous and Taste buds
 Lingual corium – Loose connective tissue
 Muscles:
 intrinsic voluntary striated muscle
 extrinsic voluntary striated muscle
 salivary glands (Van Ebner glands)
 lymphoid tissue
 vessels

The portion of the alimentary canal that extends from the proximal part of the esophagus to the
distal part of the anal canal is a hollow tube of varying diameter. This tube has the same basic
structural organization throughout its length. Four distinctive layers form its wall. From the lumen
outward, they are as follows:

 Mucosa, consisting of a lining epithelium, an underlying connective tissue called the lamina
propria, and the Muscularis mucosae, composed of smooth muscle
 Submucosa, consisting of dense irregular connective tissue
 Muscularis externa, consisting in most parts of two layers of smooth muscle
 Serosa, a serous membrane consisting of a simple squamous epithelium, the mesothelium,
and a small amount of underlying connective tissue. An adventitia consisting only of
connective tissue is found where the wall of the tube is directly attached or fixed to adjoining
structures.
Esophagus
Is a muscular tube that conveys food and other substances from the pharynx to the stomach.
 Mucosa:
 Epithelium: non-keratinized stratified squamous epithelium, At the Esophagogastric
junction, stratified squamous epithelium changes abruptly to simple columnar epithelium
 Lamina propria
 Muscularis mucosae
 Sub mucosa:
 Esophageal glands
 Muscularis layer:
 Upper1/3-skeletal muscles
 Middle1/3-smooth&skeletal
 Lower1/3-smooth muscle
 Adventitia.
Stomach:
The stomach is divided into three regions:
 The cardia, nearest the esophagus, contains cardiac glands
 The pylorus, proximal to the gastrointestinal (pyloric) sphincter contains pyloric glands
 The fundus, the body or largest part of the stomach that contains the fundic (gastric) glands.

 Mucus membrane:
 Epithelium: Simple columnar and Gastric pits
 Lamina propria: contains Gastric glands
 Muscularis mucosae
Numerous gastric pits, which are lined like the stomach lumen with surface mucous cells and which
lead into branching gastric glands, penetrate the mucosa of the stomach fundus and body.
 Submucosa.
 Muscularis layer:
 Inner oblique
 Middle circular
 Outer longitudinal
 Serosa.
Small Intestine:
The small intestine has three regions: the duodenum with large mucous glands in the submucosa called
duodenal glands; the jejunum; and the ileum with the large mucosal and submucosal Peyer patches.
 Mucosa:
 The mucosa has millions of projecting villi, with simple columnar epithelium over cores
of lamina propria, and intervening simple tubular intestinal glands (or crypts).
 Lamina propria
 Muscularis mucosae

 Sub mucosa

 Muscularis layer:
 inner circular layer
 outer longitudinal layer

 Serosa.
Large Intestine:
The large intestine has three major regions: the short cecum, with the appendix; the long colon, with its
ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid portions; and the rectum.

 Mucosa:
The mucosa of the large intestine lined by simple columnar epithelium and has millions of short
simple tubular intestinal glands, lined by lubricant goblet cells and absorptive cells.

 Sub mucosa

 Muscularis layer:
 inner circular layer
 outer longitudinal layer
 three bands of smooth muscle called teniae coli
 Serosa.

Anal Canal:
At the anal canal, the simple columnar epithelium lining the rectum shifts abruptly to stratified
squamous epithelium of the skin at the anus.
Near the anus the circular layer of the rectum’s Muscularis forms the internal anal sphincter, with
further control exerted by striated muscle of the external anal sphincter.
 The Respiratory System

The function of the respiratory system is to provide oxygen to the blood, with a secondary function of
sound production in the larynx.
The respiratory system consists of an air conducting region (the upper respiratory tract in the head, as well
as the larynx, trachea, bronchi, and most bronchioles) and a respiratory region with alveoli.

Trachea and Bronchial Tree:

The trachea is a short tube about 2.5 cm in diameter and about 10 cm long. It extends from the larynx to
about the middle of the thorax, where it divides into the two main bronchi (primary bronchi). Its major
function is to serve as a conduit for air. The lumen of the trachea is completely lined by respiratory
epithelium and is supported by C-shaped rings of hyaline cartilage, with smooth trachealis muscles in the
posterior opening of the rings.

Typical respiratory (ciliated pseudostratified columnar) epithelium lines the trachea and primary bronchi.

On entering the lungs, the primary bronchi branch immediately to give rise to the lobar bronchi (secondary
bronchi) that supply the two lobes of the left lung and the three lobes of the right lung. Within the lung, the
C-shaped cartilages are replaced by an investment of (sometimes overlapping) cartilaginous plates that
surround the bronchi.
Bronchi and their branches are lined by respiratory mucosa, with prominent spiraling bands of smooth
muscle and increasingly smaller pieces of hyaline cartilage.

Branches of the bronchial tree with diameters of 1 mm or less are generally called bronchioles, which are
lined by simple columnar or cuboidal ciliated cells, with circular smooth muscle but no Cartilage.

Terminal bronchioles are the last branches to lack alveoli and are lined by simple cuboidal epithelium
consisting mainly of club cells, which have innate immune and surfactant secretory functions.
Respiratory bronchioles continue to divide to form alveolar ducts, passages lined solely with rows of
alveoli that have rings of smooth muscle in knob-like interalveolar septa.
The alveolar ducts terminate in alveolar sacs, enlarged spaces surrounded by clusters of alveoli that open
into the spaces.
The alveoli are lined with type I alveolar cells, extremely thin squamous cells that cover about 95% of the
alveolar surface, and with type II alveolar cells, cuboidal cells that secrete surfactant, a surface-active agent
that reduces surface tension at the air-epithelium surface.

The tissue between adjacent alveoli is called the alveolar septum. This consists of the alveolar epithelial
cells and their basal lamina, the basal lamina of the underlying capillary endothelium and the endothelial
cells, themselves, and any other connective tissue elements that may lie between the two basal laminae.
The alveolar septum is the site of the air-blood barrier.
Each lung is covered by visceral pleura, a layer of thin connective tissue and mesothelium, and is
continuous with parietal pleura, a similar tissue layer that lines the pleural cavity.