Notes on Digestion:

What is meant by Digestion?

Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food molecules into small water-soluble food molecules so
that they can be absorbed into the watery blood plasma and can be acted upon by various digestive
enzymes.

Digestion is a form of catabolism that is often divided into two processes based on how food is broken
down: mechanical and chemical digestion.

Mechanical Digestion

Refers to the physical breakdown of large pieces of food into smaller pieces which can
subsequently be accessed by digestive enzymes.

Chemical digestion

Directly enzymes break down food into the small molecules which the body can use.

• In the human digestive system, food enters the mouth and mechanical digestion of the food
starts by the action of mastication (chewing), a form of mechanical digestion, and the wetting
contact of saliva.

• salivary glands, contains salivary amylase, an enzyme which starts the digestion of
starch(carbohydrate) in the food.

• After undergoing mastication and starch digestion, the food will be in the form of a small, round
slurry mass called a bolus.
 HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

First digestion starts in our human saliva that is our ‘BUCCAL CAVITY OR ORAL CAVITY’

NAME OF MAJOR ORGANS IN HUMAN DIGESTION

The process of reducing food into smaller molecules that can be absorbed into the body
consists of 2 major parts for the digestive system.

Major organs

Mouth
 Oesophagus
 Stomach
 small intestine
large intestine
Acessory organs

 Liver
 Gall bladder
 Pancreas.
 Digestion of food in mouth and Oral or buccal cavity:

MAJOR ORGANS

1. MOUTH

Structures in the mouth that helps digestion

Teeth – cut, tear, crush and grind food.

Salivary glands – produce and secrete saliva into the oral cavity.

Functions of Saliva

1. moistens the food

2. Chemical Digestion-contains enzymes (ptyalin or salivary amylase) begins digestion of
starch into smaller polysaccharides or food molecules.
3. Mechanical digestion – done by teeth
4. increasing surface area for faster chemical digestion – saliva enzymes

Salivary glands: 3 pairs of Salivary glands in human secreted saliva

1. Parotid gland
2. Submandibular
3. Sublingual

Composition present in Saliva

Enzymes in Stomach Digestion: Purpose

 Acidic environment
 HCl secretion
 kill any microbes that are found in the bolus (partially digested food that we are
getting from buccal cavity)
 needs a pH of 2.

1. Gastric gland/oxyntic gland: 80 % of stomach – PEPSIN (active form), HCl, MUCIN

2. Pyloric gland: 20 % of stomach- MUCUS, GASTRIN.

Secretions from different glands in Stomach are:

So following important things are important – MUCUS, MUCIN, HCl

Regulation or Importance of HCl - Endocrine regulation-STOMACH IMPORTANT SECTION

1. Protein in ‘MUCIN’---stomach---stimulate pyloric gland----release gastrin

2. Gastrin stimulate ECL cell (electrochemical cell-potential difference).

3. ECL cell release Histamine (enzyme).

4. Histamine stimulate Oxyntic cell secrete HCL.
 STOMACH DOES NOT DIGEST ITSELF
Why?

 Protective Mechanism:
Three protective mechanisms:

• First the stomach only secretes small amounts of gastric juices until food is present.

Second the secretion of mucus coats the lining of the stomach protecting it from the
gastric juices.

The third mechanism is the digestive enzyme pepsin is secreted in an inactive

protein called pepsinogen. Pepsinogen is converted to pepsin in the increased
presence of hydrochloric acid (pH 1).