Lecture 22: Digestion

I. Introduction to Digestion
a. Heterotrophy
i. All animals are heterotrophs – must eat
b. Four stages of food processing
i. Injection – food enters body
ii. Digestion – process of breaking down complex organics
1. Mechanical – big pieces  small pieces
a. Increase surface area for enzymes
2. Chemical – enzymes break down food  hydrolysis
a. Enzymes hydrolyze biological molecules in animals
iii. Absorption – often into bloodstream, cells take up molecules
iv. Elimination – undigested passes out of system
1. How do you avoid digesting yourself?? COMPARTMENTS
c. Location of Digestion
i. Single cell
1. Food vacuoles
2. Lysosomes
ii. Multicellular
1. Extracellular digestion – compartments
a. Thin/tiny animals
i. Gastrovascular cavity
ii. One opening
b. Big animals
i. Alimentary canal
1. Accessory glands: 3 pairs salivary glands,
pancreas, liver, and gall bladder
2. Peristalsis – smooth muscle, waves of
contraction
3. Sphincters – ring-like muscular valves,
doors
ii. Two openings, one way
II. Human Digestive System
a. Components
b. Food Processing Prior to Stomach
1. Pre-ingestion
a. Digestive processes are triggered
b. Salivary secretion
2. Ingestion in oral cavity
a. Teeth  mechanical digestion (chewing)
b. Tongue  food forms into a bolus
c. Salivary glands add:
i. Amylase  hydrolyze polysaccharides (starch)
ii. Mucus  mucins (slippery glycoproteins)
d. SWALLOW MOVES BOLUS TO
3. Pharynx
a. Epiglottis – prevents food from entering airway
b. BOLUS KEEPS GOING DOWN ENTERS…
4. Esophagus: muscular tube between pharynx & stomach
a. Peristalsis: smooth muscle, moves food
b. BOLUS ENTERS STOMACH THROUGH
c. Cardiac sphincter
5. Stomach – very elastic – 2 liters – digests protein
a. Pitted lining  gastric glands
b. 3 types of cells in gastric pit
i. Mucus cells  mucus, protect tissue from acid
ii. Parietal cells  HCl (acid) antimicrobial
1. Pump H+ into lumen and diffuse Cl- into
lumen
2. Now in stomach lumen H+ & Cl-  HCl
3. Lowes pH in stomach
4. HCl – removes a short segments from
pepsinogen
a. Exposes active site of enzyme 
pepsin
i. Breaks into smaller
polypeptides – not amino
acids
iii. Chief cells  pepsinogen (inactive enzyme)
c. Food Processing in Stomach
i. Stomach churns all  chyme (stomach juice)
1. HCl (pH 2) & mucus, pepsin
2. Plus food
ii. Chyme exits stomach through pyloric sphincter into…
6. Small Intestines (SI)
About 6 meters – thin (hence small)
Three divisions
 Duodenum – most chemical digestion
 Jejunum – middle
 Ileum – lower portion
  High surface area
 Villi & microvilli
 Pancreatic juice = bicarbonate & enzymes
 Bile – produces in liver, stored in gall bladder, bile duct, bile
salts
III. Digestion of Specific Nutrients
a. Carbohydrates
i. Polysaccharides & disaccharides  monosaccharides
1. Oral cavity – salivary amylase
2. Stomach – none
3. Small intestines (SI)
a. From pancreas – pancreatic amylase
b. From SI – disaccharides
b. Proteins
i. Polypeptides  amino acids
1. Oral cavity – none
2. Stomach – pepsin  short polypeptides
3. SI – 5 are added
a. 2 from pancreas: pancreatic trypsin & chymotrypsin
b. 3 from SI
i. Dipeptidases – hydrolyze dipeptides
ii. Carboxypeptidases – starts at carboxyl end
iii. Aminopeptidase – starts at amino end
c. Nucleic Acids
i. DNA & RNA
ii. Only digested in SI
1. From pancreas – pancreatic nucleases
2. From SI
a. Nucleosidases
b. Phosphatases
d. Lipids
i. Ingested as triacylglycerol (triglycerides)
1. Oral cavity – none
2. Stomach – none
a. But there’s a problem…fats are hydrophobic
b. Bile salts – stick (adhere) to fats and emulsify them
c. Pancreatic lipase  glycerol, fatty acids, monoglycerides
IV. Absorption & Elimination
a. Small Intestine Structure
i. Absorption through villi in small intestines
ii. Capillaries (blood) & lacteal (lymph system)
b. Transport Processes
i. Simple diffusion – water
ii. Facilitated diffusion – (fructose)
iii. Active transport – ions
c. Absorption of Lipids
 i. Monoglycerides & fatty acids use simple diffusion across intestinal
epithelium
ii. After absorption: body rebuilds triglycerides
iii. Packages intro chylomicrons
iv. Enter lacteal (lymphatic) pathway (w/in the villus)
v. Transported 1st to lymph then to blood
d. Functions of Large Intestines
i. Enter (STEP 7) large intestines through ileocecal valve
ii. DIGESTION IS DONE
iii. Large diameter – mainly absorbs water
iv. 4 divisions
1. Transverse
2. Ascending
3. Descending
4. Sigmoid
v. Home to many bacteria? Why?
1. Bacteria produce many vitamins
a. K vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin, B12
2. Outcompete many pathogens
vi. STEP 8: feces then eliminated
1. About 75% water, 25% solids
e. Functions of the Liver
i. Function:
1. converts many nutrients  new substances
2. modifies & detoxes – i.e. alcohol & drugs
3. removes excess glucose  glycogen
ii. Hepatic portal vein  means liver gets 1st access to nutrients absorbed by
intestine
Summary of Pathway
Step 1: Pre-Ingestion
Step 2: Oral Cavity
Step 3: Pharynx
Step 4: Esophagus
Step 5: Stomach
Step 6: Small Intestines
Step 7: Large Intestines
Step 8: Rectum & Anus
Lecture 23: Nutrition
I. Diet and Nutritional Needs
a. Chemical Energy – used for ATP
i. Nutrition – food used by body
ii. Animals feed in 3 ways
1. Herbivores
2. Carnivores
3. Omnivores
iii. Opportunistic feeders? Need to eat correct mixture
iv. Calorie = kilocalorie = 1000 calories; raise 1 kg water 1 degree Celsius
v. Carbohydrates – starch/cellulose
1. Main source of energy
2. About 50% of calories
3. 1g carbs = 4 calories
vi. Proteins
1. 1g = about 4 calories
vii. Lipids
1. 1g = about 9 calories
2. Most triglycerides
b. Organic Building Blocks
i. Source of carbon
ii. Source of protein
iii. Essential nutrients = ingest or die
1. Carbs are not essential!
2. Breakdown proteins/lipids
c. Essential Nutrients
i. Essential amino acids
1. 20 amino acids – most animals can make about half
2. In humans – 8 essential amino acids in adults, 9 in infants
(histidine)
ii. Essential Fatty Acids
1. Linoleic acid & linolenic acid (polyunsaturated)
2. From seeds, grains, and veggies
iii. Essential Vitamins
1. Co-enzymes & compounds required in small amounts
2. Co-enzyme = non-protein required for enzyme
3. Water Soluble Vitamins – not stored in body
a. B complex vitamins
i. B3 (niacin) – NAD & NADP
ii. B9 (folic acid) – deficiencies (anemia), neural tube
defects (developments)
iii. B12 – RBC formation, only in yeast/animal
products
b. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
i. Collagen
 ii. Antioxidant – destroy reactive molecules when cells
use O2
iii. Aids iron absorption
iv. Scurvy = wounds, weakness, loss of teeth
c. Fat Soluble Vitamins – can be stored in body
i. Vitamin A – converted to retinal part of rhodopsin
1. Lack of visual impairments
ii. Vitamin D – calcium absorb, UV light
1. Lack of rickets in children
2. Osteomalacia – bone softening (adults)
d. Minerals = inorganic nutrients, ingested as salts dissolved
in water
i. Major minerals include:
1. Calcium – bones and teeth
2. Phosphorus – bones & teeth, ATP,
phospholipids, & nucleic acids
3. Sulfur – disulfide bridges in proteins
4. Chloride – negative ion (Cl-), water balance,
HCl, nerve function
5. Magnesium – enzyme cofactor, nerves &
muscles
e. Trace Elements – required in very small amounts, less than
200 mg/day
i. Iron – hemoglobin & cytochromes (ETC)
ii. Iodide – thyroid hormones
II. Regulation of Appetite & Consumption
a. Control of Fat Storage and Metabolism
i. Bulk feeders – long intervals between meals  entire digestive system not
continuously active
ii. Each step activates as food reaches new compartment
iii. Food arrival  secretions for chemical digestion & peristalsis
b. Nervous System
i. Nervous system relays info to secrete hormones
1. Full line in stomach
2. Satiety center – in brain
a. Makes us feel full
c. Hormonal Regulation
i. Hormones stimulate appetite
1. Ghrelin – stomach wall, hunger
ii. 3 hormone suppress appetite
1. Insulin – pancreas, after meal
2. PYY – SI, after meal
3. Leptin – fat (adipose), levels fall as body fat lowers
III. Regulation of Digestion
a. Oral Cavity
i. We a bulk feeders – long breaks
 ii. Each step is activated when food enters
1. Oral cavity – nervous system  saliva
2. Swallowing when bolus reaches pharynx
b. Stomach
i. Stomach – enteric division of nervous system
ii. Arrival of food  stretches stomach
iii. Triggers gastrin
1. Release gastric juice
2. Churns stomach
c. Small Intestines (Duodenum)
i. Chyme, fatty acids, and amino acids trigger digestive hormones
ii. Two hormones
1. Cholecystokinin (CCK)
a. Pancreas  digestive enzyme
b. Gall bladder  bile
2. Secretin – levels rise in blood
a. Pancreas  bicarbonate (HCO3-)
iii. If chyme is high in fats
1. CCK and secretin will be very high
2. Inhibits peristalsis & gastric juices  slows digestion
iv. Glucose regulation (target all but brain)
1. High glucose = secret insulin
2. Low glucose = secrete glucagon
v. What happens when it goes wrong?
1. World wide health problem
a. Insulin deficiency OR
b. Target tissues do not respond
2. Kidneys excrete glucose  blindness, gangrene, kidney failure