The Process of

Routes for the Absorption

Nutrient
Procurement
Nutrients
 Substances required for the
growth and maintenance of life.
These are the compounds can be
obtained from food that provide
us energy, serve as the building
blocks for repair and growth and
essential to regulate chemical
processes.
Across Plants
 Apoplast Route – along cell
walls.
 Symplast Route – through
plasmodesmata.
 Transmembrane Route
 Endodermis – controlled entry
to the vascular cylinder (stele).
 Transport in the Xylem

Mode of Nutrition
 Autotrophs
 Make their own food.
 Photoautotrophs – convert
water and carbon dioxide,
with the Sun’s energy into
organic sugars which they
can use for growth and
development.
 Chemoautotrophs – some
Specialized Absorptive
types of bacteria. Structure
 Heterotrophs  Root Hairs
 Depend on other  Slender extensions of
sources/organisms for specialized epidermal cells
nutrition. that greatly increase the
 Parasitic – Parasites surface area.
 Saprophytic – Fungi and  Root Nodules
bacteria  Localized swelling in roots
 Holozoic – Amoeba of certain plants like
legumes where bacterial
Nutritional Requirements cells exist symbiotically
of Plants with plant.
 Water
 Carbon dioxide
 Essential nutrients or elements:
 Macronutrients – C, H, O,
K, Ca, Mg, P, S, N
 Micronutrients – Fe, B, Cl,
Mn, Zn, Mo, Co

 Mycorrhizae
 A symbiotic interaction
between a young root and
fungus.
 Phosphorous and copper
transfer.
 Plant supplies the fungi with
organic carbon.
Calorie (Animal
Nutrition)
 Essential Nutrients
 A unit of energy that indicates
the amount of energy contained
in food.
 Refers to the amount of heat
energy required to raise the
temperature of 1kg (2.2 lb.) of
water by 1 degree Celcius.
 1 Cal / kcal = 1000 cal
 1 cal = 4.184 J
Nutritional Requirements of
Animal
 Carbohydrates
 Serve as a major energy
source for the cells in the
body.
 These are usually obtained
from grains, cereals, breads,
fruits, and vegetables.
 4 Calories per gram.
 Proteins
 Can also be used as an
energy source but the body
mainly uses these as
building materials for cell
structures and as enzymes,
hormones, parts of muscles,
and bones.
 Proteins come from dairy
products, poultry, fish, meat,
and grains.
 4 Calories per gram.
 Fats
 Used to build cell
membranes, steroid
hormones, and other cellular
structures.
 Insulate nervous tissue.
 An (stored) energy source.
 Contain certain fat-soluble
vitamins that are important
for good health.
 Obtained from oils,
margarine, butter, fried
foods, meat, and processed
snack foods.
 9 calories per gram.
 Include substances that
animals can only get from
the foods they eat because
they could not be
synthesized inside the body.
 Essential Amino Acids –
needed for synthesis of
proteins and enzymes.
 Among the 20 amino
acids, eight could not be
synthesized by humans:
lysine, tryptophan,
threonine, methionine,
phenylalanine, leucine,
isoleucine, and valine.
 Essential Fatty Acids –
used for making special
membrane lipids
 An example is linoleic
acid in humans.
 Vitamins – organic
molecules required in small
amounts for normal
metabolism.
 Fat-Soluble – Vitamins
A, D, E, K.
 Water-Soluble –
Vitamins B, B2, B3,
B12, C.
 Trace Elements or
Minerals – inorganic
nutrients needed by the body
in minute amounts. These
form part of enzymes, body
tissues, and body fluids
  Examples include:
iodine, cobalt, zinc,
molybdenum,
manganese, selenium.
Food Uptake in Cells via
Endocytosis
 Endocytosis is from the Greek
roots endon, meaning within;
kytos, meaning cell; and -osis,
meaning process. So, it is the
process by which a substance is
brought inside a cell without
having to pass through the cell
membrane.
 Pinocytosis – uptake of
extracellular fluid by a cell
using small vesicles derived
from the plasma membrane.
“CELL DRINKING”
 Phagocytosis – engulfment
of organic fragments or big
particles.
“CELL EATING”
 Receptor Mediated-
Endocytosis – relies on
membrane receptor
recognition of specific
solutes which are then taken
up by the cell via receptor-
coated pits.
Animals Based on Feeding
Mechanism
 Substrate-Feeders – animals
that live in or on their food
source.
 Filter-Feeders – Many aquatic
animals which draw in water and
strain small organisms and food
particles present in the medium.
 Fluid-Feeders – suck fluids
containing nutrients from a
living host.
 Bulk-Feeders – eat relatively
large chunks of food and have
adaptations like jaws, teeth,
tentacles, claws, pincers, etc. that
help in securing the food and
tearing it to pieces.
Digestive Compartments in
Animals
 Food Vacuoles in unicellular
organisms – these fuse with
lysosomes that contain
hydrolytic enzymes.
Protozoan like Paramecium.
 Gastrovascular cavity or
incomplete digestive system –
composed of a single opening
through which food is taken in
and where wastes are disposed
 of, it is like saclike body cavity.
Cnidarian Hydra and in flatworm
Planaria.
 Complete Digestive System –
essentially like a tube with an
opening at one end for taking in
food (mouth) and an opening at
the other end where unabsorbed
waste materials are eliminated
(anus). In between the mouth and
anus, are specialized organs that
carry out transport, processing,
and absorption of digested
nutrients.
Vertebrate Digestive
Systems
 Monogastric: single-
chambered stomach – nutrients
are absorbed into the
bloodstream across the epithelial
cells to the lining of the walls of
the small intestines. The waste
material travels on to the large
intestine where water is absorbed
and the drier waste material is
compacted into feces; it is stored
until it is excreted through the
rectum.
 Avian – stomach of birds has
two chambers: the
proventriculus, where gastric
juices are produced to digest the
food before it enters the stomach,
the gizzard, where the food is
stored, soaked, and mechanically
ground. The undigested material
forms food pellets that are
sometimes regurgitated. Most of
the chemical digestion and
absorption happens in the
intestine and the waste is
excreted through the cloaca.
 Ruminants or Foregut Fermenters
 Mainly herbivores like
cows, sheep, and goats,
whose entire diet consists of
eating large amounts of
roughage or fiber.
 To help digest the large
amount of plant material, the
 stomach of the ruminants is
a multi-chambered organ.
 The four compartments of
the stomach are called the
rumen, reticulum, omasum,
and abomasum.
 The abomasum is the “true”
stomach and is the
equivalent of the
monogastric stomach
chamber where gastric
juices are secreted.
 The four-compartment
gastric chamber provides
larger space and the
microbial support necessary
to digest plant material in
ruminants. The fermentation
process produces large
amounts of gas in the
stomach chamber, which
must be eliminated. As in
other animals, the small
intestine plays an important
role in nutrient absorption,
and the large intestine helps
in the elimination of waste.
 Hindgut Fermenters
 Adapted to digesting
cellulose.
 Fermentation occurs after
digestion in the stomach in
the enlarged caecum and
large intestine.
Main Stages of Food
Processing
 Ingestion – the act of eating or
feeding; this is couples with the
mechanical breakdown of food
into smaller pieces allowing for a
greater surface area for chemical
digestion.
 Digestion – breakdown of food
into particles, then into nutrient
molecules small enough to be
chemical digestion by enzymes
involves breaking of chemical
bonds through the addition of
water.
 Absorption – passage of
digested nutrients and fluid
across the tube wall and into the
body fluids; the cells take up
small molecules such as amino
acids and simple sugars.
 Elimination – expulsion of the
undigested and unabsorbed
materials from the end of the gut.
Organs of Alimentary
Canal
 Oral Cavity
 Food is initially shred by
teeth.
 Mixed with saliva by the
tongue.
 Saliva is secreted into the
mouth by three pairs of
salivary glands.

 Pharynx
 Serves as the entrance to the
esophagus.
 Epiglottis – a flap-like valve
that closes the trachea to
prevent food entering the
trachea.
 Esophagus
 About 10 inches long.
 Connects the pharynx with
stomach.
 No digestion takes place
within esophagus.
 Peristalsis – the rhythmic
waves of contraction of the
smooth muscle that pushes
food into the stomach.
 Stomach
 A muscular, stretchable sac
located just below the
diaphragm.
 Important functions:
 It mixes and stores
ingested food.
 It secretes gastric juice
that helps dissolve and
degrade food,
particularly proteins.
 Gastric Juice – combination
of HCl and acid-stable
proteases.
 Regulates the passage
of food into small
intestine.
 The churning action of
the stomach together
with potent acidity and
gastric juice convert
food into a thick liquid
mixture called chyme.
 Small Intestine
 Approximately, 6 meters
long.
 Composed of three regions:
 Complete digestion of
carbs, fats, proteins
occurs in the duodenum,
about 25 cm.
 Absorption of the end
products of digestion
takes place in the ileum,
the surface area of
which is increased by
villi and microvilli.
  Villi – small finger-like  Large Intestine
projections of tissue
which increase the
surface area of the
intestine and contain
specialized cells that
transport substances
into the bloodstream.
 Shorter than small intestine.
 Ascending, transverse and
descending Colon.
 Stores undigested matter by
absorbing mineral ions and
water.
 It does not coil up and does
not have villi.
 Many bacteria live and
thrive where they help
process undigested materials
into the final excretory
product, feces.

 Accessory Organs for Mechanism of

Digestion
 Liver – secretes bile for
emulsifying fats.
 Gall bladder – stores bile
produced by the liver.
 Pancreas
 Secretes enzymes that
breakdown all major
food molecules.
 Secretes buffer against
HCl from the stomach.
 Secretes hormones
insulin for control of
glucose metabolism.
Digestion and
Absorption
 Carbohydrates digestion begins
in the mouth but could not
continue in the stomach due to
the acidic ph that destroys the
amylase. It resumes in the small
intestine where the resulting
monosaccharides are absorbed.
 Proteins are digested in the
stomach and small intestine.
Resulting amino acid are
absorbed in the small intestine
where they leave the intestinal
cell and enter the blood through
facilitated diffusion carrier in the
plasma membrane on the
opposite side.
 Fat digestion occurs entirely in
the small intestine. Although
fatty acids are monoglycerides
enter epithelial cells from the
intestinal lumen, it is
triglycerides that are released on
the other side of the cell and
carried by the blood capillaries to
be transported throughout the
body.
 Water soluble vitamins are
absorbed by diffusion or active
transport.
How Nutrients are
Delivered into Cells
 Substances pass through the
brush border cells that line the
free surface of each villus by
active transport, osmosis, and
diffusion across the lipid bilayer
of plasma membrane.
 The nutrients then proceed into
the internal environment and
pass to the blood which is
collected into the hepatic portal
vein leading to the liver.
 After flowing through the liver,
the blood carrying nutrients
passes into the hepatic vein
which carries the blood back to
the heart to be distributed to the
diff body tissues.