Biology

Sylvia S. Mader
Michael Windelspecht

Chapter 34
Digestive Systems and
Nutrition
Lecture Outline

34-1
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Outline
34.1 Digestive Tracts
34.2 The Human Digestive System
34.3 Digestive Enzymes
34.4 Nutrition and Human Health

34-2
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 34.1 Digestive tracts
Digestive system
• Includes all the organs, tissues, and cells involved in
ingesting food and breaking it down into smaller
components
• Contributes to homeostasis by providing body with
nutrients needed to sustain life of cells
• A digestive system:
• Ingests food
• Breaks food down into small molecules that can cross
plasma membranes
• Absorbs nutrient molecules
• Eliminates undigestible remains
34-3
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Two types of digestive tracts
Incomplete versus Complete tracts
An incomplete digestive tract has a single opening used as
an entrance for food and exit for wastes.
• Example: Planarian
• Food enters through the mouth and muscular pharynx.
• Gastrovascular cavity branches throughout the body.
• Wastes exit through the mouth and muscular pharynx.
• It lacks specialized parts.
A complete digestive tract has two openings.
• Example: Earthworm
• Food enters through the mouth.
• Wastes exit through the anus.
• Specialization of parts is obvious because the pharynx, crop,
gizzard, and intestine have their own functions.
34-4
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Incomplete digestive tract of a
Planarian

a) Planarians, which are flatworms, have a gastrovascular cavity with a single opening that acts as
both an entrance and an exit. Like hydras, planarians rely on intracellular digestion to complete the
digestive process. b) Phagocytosis produces a vacuole, which joins with an enzyme-containing
lysosome. The digested products pass from the vacuole into the cytoplasm before any undigestible
material is eliminated at the plasma membrane. 34-5
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Complete digestive tract of an
Earthworm

Complete digestive tracts have both a mouth and an anus and can have many
specialized parts, such as those labeled in this drawing. Also in earthworms, which are
annelids, the absorptive surface of the intestine is increased by an internal fold called the
typhlosole. 34-6
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Dentition among
mammals
Adaptation to diet
• Dentition differs with mode of nutrition
Omnivores
• Variety of specializations to accommodate both
vegetation and meat

• Clams and tube worms are invertebrate omnivores.

• Humans, pigs and most bears are omnivores.

• Dentition of the above is specialized to accommodate

vegetable and meat diet.

• Better ability to adapt to different food sources

34-7
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Herbivores
• Eat only plants
• Incisors for clipping
• Premolars and molars for grinding
• Land snails and some insects are herbivores.
• Grazers, like horses, feed on grasses.
• Ruminants, like cattle, goats, and sheep, have a four-
chambered stomach which allows them to regurgitate
solid material for complete digestion.

34-8
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Carnivores
• Eat only other animals

• Pointed incisors and enlarged canines

• Shear off pieces small enough to swallow

• Dogs, lions, and dolphins are carnivores.

• The lion’s pointed canine teeth are used for killing, sharp
incisors for scraping bones, and pointed molars for
slicing flesh.

34-9
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Dentition among Mammals

a) Horses are herbivores and have teeth suitable to clipping and chewing grass. b)
Lions and dolphins are carnivores. Dentition in a lion is suitable for killing large animals,
such as zebras and wildebeests, and tearing apart their flesh. Dentition in a dolphin is
suitable to grasping small animals, such as fish, which are swallowed whole. c) Humans
are omnivores and have teeth suitable to a mixed diet of vegetables and meat 34-10
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 34.2 The human digestive
system
Human digestive tract is complete
Part of a tube-within-a-tube body plan
Begins with a mouth and ends in an anus
Digestion is entirely extracellular
• Is mechanical as well as chemical
• Digestive enzymes are secreted by
• The wall of the digestive tract
• Nearby accessory glands 34-11
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 The human digestive tract

Trace the path of food from the mouth to the anus. The large intestine consists of the
cecum, colon (ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid colons), rectum, and
anus. Note also the location of the accessory organs of digestion: the pancreas, liver, and
gallbladder. 34-12
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Structures – Mouth and tongue
Mouth
• Where digestion begins
• The palate, or roof of mouth, separates oral cavity
from nasal cavity.
• Uvula is the posterior extension of the soft palate.
• Three major pairs of salivary glands
• Saliva contains salivary amylase.
• Initiates starch digestion
• Starch is present in foods of plant origin.
Tongue
• Composed of striated muscle and an outer layer of mucous
membrane
• Mixes chewed food with saliva
• Forms mixture into a bolus
34-13
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Structures – Pharynx and
esophagus
Pharynx
• Digestive and respiratory passages come together in the
pharynx, then separate.
• The soft palate closes off nasopharynx during swallowing.
• Epiglottis
• Covers the glottis (opening into the trachea)
• Keeps food from air passages (most of the time)
Esophagus
• Moves food to stomach by peristalsis
• Peristalsis – Rhythmical contraction to move contents in
tubular organs

34-14
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Swallowing

Respiratory and digestive passages converge and diverge in the pharynx.

When food is swallowed, the soft palate closes off the nasopharynx, and the
epiglottis covers the glottis, forcing the bolus to pass down the esophagus.
Therefore, a person does not breathe when swallowing. 34-15
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Wall of digestive tract

The esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine all have a lumen
and walls composed of similar layers. 34-16
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Central space and walls of
digestive tract
The Pharynx and Esophagus
• The central space of the digestive tract through
which food passes is called the lumen.
• The wall of the digestive tract is composed of the
mucosa, submucosa, muscularis, and serosa
layers.
• Contraction of the two smooth muscle layers in the
muscularis causes movement of gut contents from
esophagus to rectum by peristalsis.
• The serosa is part of the internal lining of the abdominal
cavity, the peritoneum.
34-17
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Peristalsis in the digestive tract
These three
drawings show how
a peristaltic wave
moves through a
single section of
the esophagus over
time. The arrows
point to areas of
contraction

34-18
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Structures – Stomach
Stomach
• Stomach wall has deep folds (rugae).
• Folds disappear as the stomach fills to an
approximate volume of one liter.
• Epithelial lining of the stomach has millions of
gastric pits, which lead to gastric glands.
• Gastric glands secrete hydrochloric acid (HCl) and
pepsin.
• Stomach pH is about 2.0, which can kill bacteria in food.
• Pepsin is a hydrolytic enzyme that acts on protein to
produce peptides.
34-19
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Anatomy of the stomach

a) The stomach, which has

thick walls, expands as it
fills with food.
b) The mucous membrane
layer of its walls secretes
mucus and contains gastric
glands, which secrete a
gastric juice active in the
digestion of protein.

©Ed Reschke/Photolibrary/Getty Images

34-20
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Formation of chyme in stomach
Stomach
• A layer of mucus protects the stomach wall from
enzymatic action.
• When gastric acid leaks upward, the mucosal lining
can be irritated.
• Gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD) can cause heartburn.
• Food mixing with gastric juices becomes chyme.
• Junction between the stomach and the small intestine is
controlled by a sphincter.
• Chyme entering the stomach starts a reflex, causing the
sphincter at the stomach’s base to contract and close the
opening.
• When the sphincter relaxes, a small quantity of chyme
passes into the small intestine.
34-21
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Structures – Small intestine
Small intestine
• First segment is duodenum
• Chyme from the stomach enters the duodenum.
• Chyme mixes with secretions from the liver and pancreas.
• Liver
• Produces bile, which is stored in the gallbladder
• Bile contains bile salts which break up fat into fat droplets via
emulsification.
• Pancreas
• Exocrine gland
• Secretes pancreatic juice and digestive enzymes into the
duodenum
• Epithelial cells of the small intestine also produce
digestive enzymes.
• These enzymes complete the process of food digestion in the
small intestine.
34-22
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Role of villi in small intestine
Wall of the small intestine
• Villi are ridges on the surface, which contain
even smaller ridges called microvilli.
• Contain digestive enzymes called brush-border
enzymes
• Greatly increase the surface area for absorption
• Each villus contains blood capillaries and a lacteal
(lymphatic capillary).

34-23
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Anatomy of the small intestine

The wall of the small

intestine has folds
that bear fingerlike a.Intestinal lining

projections called
villi.
The products of
digestion are
absorbed by
microvilli into the
blood capillaries and
the lacteals of the b.Structure of the villi

villi.

c.Structure of the microvilli

b: (photo): ©Kage-mikrofotografie/Medical Images RM; c: ©Science Photo Library RF/Getty RF

34-24
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Large intestine
Large Intestine
• Includes cecum, colon, rectum, and anus
• Larger in diameter, but shorter in length than small intestine
• Cecum has small projection: appendix
• Absorbs water, salts, and some vitamins
• Stores undigestible material until it is eliminated as feces
• Has a large population of bacteria that break down
indigestible material and produce vitamins
• Colon joins the rectum, the last 20 cm of the large intestine.
• Bacteria in large intestine produce vitamin K, needed for
clotting.
• Digestive wastes, or feces, leave the body through the anus,
the opening of the anal canal.
34-25
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 The Appendix

The appendix is found at

the junction of the small
and large intestine.
• Function is unclear; may
hold reservoir of “good”
bacteria necessary for
intestinal health.

34-26
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 34.3 Digestive enzymes in
mouth
𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐲𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐞
starch + H2 O maltose

𝐩𝐞𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐧
protein + H2 O peptides

34-27
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Digestive enzymes in
small intestine

𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐧
protein + H2 O peptides

𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐞
maltose + H2 O glucose + glucose

𝐩𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬
peptides + H2 O amino acids

34-28
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Digestive enzymes in
small intestine (cont.)

𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐦𝐲𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐞
starch + H2 O maltose

34-29
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Digestive enzymes – Bile Salts
and Lipase

𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐬
fat fat droplets
𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐞
fat droplets + H2 O glycerol + 3 fatty acids

34-30
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Digestion and absorption of nutrients

a.Carbohydrate digestion b.Protein digestion c.Fat digestion

a) Starch is digested to b) Proteins are digested to c) Fats are emulsified by

glucose, which is actively
transported into the epithelial
cells of intestinal villi. From
there, glucose moves into
the bloodstream.
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
amino acids, which are bile and digested to
actively transported into the monoglycerides and fatty
epithelial cells of intestinal acids. These diffuse into
villi. From there, amino acids epithelial cells, where they
move into the bloodstream. recombine and join with
proteins to form lipoproteins,
called chylomicrons.
Chylomicrons enter a lacteal.
34-31
 34.4 Nutrition and human health
Carbohydrates
• Carbohydrates are present in food in the form of
sugars, starch, and fiber.
• Fruits, vegetables, milk, and honey are natural
sources of sugars.
• Monosaccharides:
• Glucose
• Fructose

• Disaccharides:
• Lactose (milk sugar)
• Sucrose (table sugar)
34-32
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Digestible carbohydrates –
Glucose, Starch and Glycogen
Carbohydrates
• After being absorbed from the digestive tract,
all sugars are converted to glucose.
• Much of glucose is used for production of ATP by
cellular respiration.
• Plants store glucose as starch.
• Animals store glucose as glycogen.
• Starch is digested to glucose in the digestive
tract and excess glucose is stored as
glycogen.
34-33
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Indigestible carbohydrates –
Fiber
Fiber
• Includes various undigestible carbohydrates
derived from plants
• Food sources rich in fiber include beans, peas,
nuts, fruits, and vegetables.
• Technically, fiber is not a nutrient for humans:
• Cannot be digested
• Soluble fiber combines with bile acids and cholesterol
in the small intestine and prevents them from being
absorbed.
• Insoluble fiber adds bulk to fecal material.
• This bulk stimulates movement in the large intestine,
preventing constipation.
34-34
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Lipids
Lipids
• Fat, oils, and cholesterol
• Saturated fatty acids (solids at room
temperature) usually come from animals.
• Butter, meat, whole milk, and cheeses contain
saturated fats.

• Unsaturated fatty acids are found in plant oils.

• Cholesterol can be synthesized by the body
and is found in animal foods.
34-35
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Proteins
Proteins
• Adequate protein formation requires 20 different
types of amino acids.
• Eight essential amino acids are required in the
diet.
• Some foods, such as meat, milk, and eggs, provide all
nine (complete).
• Vegetables supply some essential amino acids, but are
usually deficient in at least one (incomplete).
• Vegetarians and vegans can eat grains, beans, and
nuts in various combinations to meet their protein
needs. 34-36
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins
• Organic compounds the body is unable to produce, but
are required for metabolic purposes.
• The absence of a vitamin may be associated with a
particular disorder.

Minerals
• The body needs about 20 elements for various
physiological functions.
• Some individuals don’t get enough iron, calcium,
magnesium, or zinc in their diets.
• Many people consume too much sodium, which can
contribute to hypertension.

34-37
Copyright ©2019 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.