COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023

For example, carnivores need to have both mechanical and

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM chemical digestion, so a more complex enzymatic activity during the
digestion process. Herbivores get less energy from the food that
they need, whereas carnivores’ supply is not constant, they have
OVERVIEW OF DIGESTIVE TRACT
ample time to store food as they start hunting for food.
STAGES OF FOOD PROCESSING
EMBRYONIC ORIGIN
● Ingestion: Act of eating or feeding
● Digestion: Process of breaking food down into molecules Foregut Oral cavity, Pharynx, Esophagus
small enough to absorb
● Absorption: Uptake of nutrients by body cells Midgut Stomach, Small Intestine
● Elimination: Passage of undigested material out of the Hindgut Large intestine, cloaca
digestive system
MOUTH AND ORAL CAVITY
COMPONENTS
ORAL CAVITY
● Begins at mouth and ends at pharynx
● Fish have a very short oral cavity, while tetrapods typically
have longer oral cavities
● Mammalian mouth is specialized to serve as suckling and
masticatory organ (with muscular cheeks)

PALATE
● Roof of oral cavity
● Secondary palate
○ Separates oral passageway from nasal passageway
MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATIONS
○ Breathing of air influenced the evolution of the
1. Type of food eaten
secondary palate
2. Level of activity and metabolism
3. Body size

1
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023
● Fishes and Amphibians
○ Primary palate only
○ Have complete roof to the mouth
● Reptiles
○ Evolution of a secondary palate
○ Turtles: development of the maxilla, premaxillae, and
a palatine (part of secondary palate)
○ Alligators: complete bony secondary palate
● Birds
○ Fleshy secondary palate
● Mammals
○ Complete secondary palate, but posterior portion is
fleshy, soft palate
TONGUE
● Bony fishes and primitive amphibians
○ Simple tongue, crescent-shaped elevation in the
floor of the oral cavity caused by the underlying
hyloid skeleton
● Most amphibians
○ Primary tongue (hypobranchial eminence) with
glandular field (tuberculum impar) and is stuffed with
hypobranchial musculature
● Reptiles and Mammals
○ Primary tongue with glandular fields and lateral
lingual swellings stuffed with hypobranchial
musculature
● Birds
○ Lateral lingual swellings are suppressed and intrinsic
muscle is usually lacking
TONGUE MOBILITY
● Turtles, crocodiles, some birds and whales
○ Tongue is largely immobilized in the floor of the ral
cavity and cannot be extended
● Snakes, insectivorous lizards, amphibians, and some birds
○ Tongue sometimes long and may move in and out of
the oral cavity
● Mammals
○ Tongue is attached to the floor of the oral cavity (via
frenulum) but can still be extended out of the oral
cavity
ORAL GLANDS
● Saliva
○ Used to moisten food and secrete digestive enzymes
○ Amphibians: few and found on roof of mouth and
tongue
○ Reptiles: numerous and developed
○ Birds: water-feeders lack glands while some with oral
glands secrete mucus for nest-building
○ Mammals: salivary glands
■ Usually 3 pairs (parotid, mandibular, and
sublingual)
■ Saliva: mucus, salts, proteins, and enzymes
(amylase)
2
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023
● Poison: present in lizards, snakes, and mammals
● Anticoagulants: example: vampire bats
TEETH
● Derlivations of dermal armor
● Placoid scales: show gradual transition to teeth at the edge
of the jaw
● Composition of teeth: primarily dentin surrounded by enamel
● Vary among vertebrates in number, distribution in the oral
cavity, degree of permanence, mode of attachment, and
shape
● Wear patterns of teeth are functionally important
○ Chewing habit is usually in the wear and tear of the
teeth
● Enamel: >95% inorganic matter; hardest substance in
vertebrate bodies
○ Enamel is harder then dentine
○ Dentine is harder than cement
● These properties mean that teeth can be “self-sharpening”
● Toothless Vertebrates: agnathans, sturgeons, some toads,
turtles, birds, baleen whales
● Toothed Vertebrates:
○ Fish: numerous and widely distributed in the oral
cavity and pharynx
○ Early tetrapods: widely distributed in the palate
■ Most amphibians and some reptiles still have
tweeth on the vomer, palatine, and pterygoid
bones
■ Crocodilians, toothed birds, and mammals
are limited to the jaws
○ Most vertebrates (except mammals) replace teeth in
waves
○ Mammals have two sets of teeth: deciduous and
permanent teeth
MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATIONS IN TEETH
● Reptiles
○ Aglyphous: no modification for venom delivery
○ Solenoglyphous: retractable teeth, fangs
○ Proteroglyphous: fangs in front of mouth
○ Opisthoglyphous: fangs in back of mouth
● Mammals
○ Incisors: securing food and grooming
■ Conical spikes for holding insects or flesh or
simple blades for cutting plants
■ Single roots
○ Canines: simple spike-like teeth with single roots for
tearing
○ Premolars: grinding
○ Molars: larger than premolars and have more cusps
& roots
3
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023

TYPE OF TEETH BASED ON ATTACHMENT TYPE OF TEETH BASED ON CROWN SIZE/SHAPE

Acrodont no root; attached to rim of jawbone (most fishes, CROWN HEIGHT
some lizards)
Brachydont Low crowns (humans)
Pleurodont no root; attached to lingual side of jawbone
Hypsodont High crowns (horses)
(some lizards and snakes)
CUSP MORPHOLOGY
Thecodont rooted in sockets (mammals, crocodiles/reptiles,
birds) Bunodont Peaked (omnivores)

Lophodont Rigid surface (rats, rhinoceros)

TYPE OF TEETH BASED ON REPLACEMENT
Selenodont Crescent surface (deers)
Polyphodont continuous replacement throughout life (most
vertebrates, reptiles)
ECOMORPHOLOGY OF TEETH
Diphyodont two sets of teeth (most mammals) ● Carnivory
○ 4th premolar (P4) and 1st molar (M1) contact one
Monophyodont single set of teeth (cetaceans) another during mastication
○ Effective at slicing flesh and maintain high shearing
TYPE OF TEETH BASED ON SHAPE surface
○ Protocone of P4 is typically reduced
Homodont Teeth of similar shape along jaw
○ Metaconid and taloned of M1 are reduced
Heterodont Teeth of different shape along jaw ● Insectivory
○ Tibospheric molar: evolved to crunch, mash and
shear insect exoskeletons
○ Dilambdodont molar: marked by W-shaped ectoloph
ridge seen in shrews, talpid moles, and many bats

4
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023

● Herbivory
○ Diet creates heavy wear on occlusal surfaces
○ Have teeth with tall crowns (hysodont) or
continuously growing to replace worn tissue
(hypeselodont)
○ Occlusal ridges and crests are oriented
perpendicular to the chewing motion of the jaw
creating a surface for grinding plant material
● Omnivory
○ Prepare food by pounding rather by shearing
○ Hypocone is added to upper cheek teeth
○ Paraconid is lost in lower cheek teeth
○ Bunodont dentition is typical as seen in bears, pigs,
racoons, and primates
PHARYNX
● Region of foregut between the oral cavity and esophagus
● Part of digestive tract exhibiting pharyngeal pouches (at
least in embryo) that may give rise to slits
● Fishes: pharynx is the respiratory organ
● Tetrapods: pharynx is crossroad between food and
respiratory passage; site of openings in auditory tube
TETRAPOD PHARYNX
● Divided into three parts
Nasopharynx Bears opening of internal nares on the roof
and opening of Eustachian tubes in the
sides
Oropharynx Common passage for food and air

Laryngopharynx Contains two openings: glottis and gullet

leading into the trachea and esophagus
respectively. Epiglottis guards the glottis at
time of swallowing food

MORPHOLOGY OF THE GUT

LENGTH OF THE TRACT

Carnivores Short digestive tract that produce fast-acting
digestive enzymes

Herbivores Long intestines that have large colonies of bacteria

that help in digesting the cellulose fibers in plant
tissues

5
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023
INTERNAL ANATOMY OF THE GUT
1. Mucosa: layer of epithelial cells in direct contact with the
lumen
2. Submucosa: loose connective tissue containing blood
vessels and nerves
3. Muscularis externa: smooth muscular layer
a. Inner circular for lengthening & constriction
b. Outer longitudinal for shortening & peristalsis
4. Visceral serosa/peritoneum: outer layer in contact with
mesenteries (connective tissue) that connect internal organs
to the body wall
ESOPHAGUS
● Connects the pharynx to the stomach
● Herbivores: striated muscle fibers extend throughout the
entire length of esophagus (voluntary control)
● Agnathans: lined with numerous folds; simple structure
serving as extension of the pharynx
● Fishes:
○ Bears longitudinal folds to allow distention
○ Teleosts: have very short esophagus
○ Elasmobranchs (sharks): longer esophagus lined by
papillae
● Amphibians: extremely short. consists of a short constricted
area
● Reptiles:
○ Generally loner than in lower forms
○ Longitudinal folds in wall permit distention
○ Snakes: capable of swallowing large objects
○ Marine turtles: lined with cornified papillae pointing
posteriorly
● Birds
○ Typically have a neck and much longer esophagus
○ Lined with horny papillae
○ Crop: large sac or ventral pouch seen in grain eating
birds and birds of prey; for storage of food for a short
period
● Mammals
○ Distinct demarcation between esophagus and
stomach
○ Length varies with the length of the neck
STOMACH
● Temporary storage site for food before it enters the intestine
● In most vertebrates, assumes a transverse position and
either U-shaped or J-shaoed
○ Shape depends on the shape of animals body
○ May extend longitudinally in animals like snake
● Stomachs of advanced vertebrates tend to be divided into
the following regions
○ Cardia: secretes mucous between fundus and
esophagus
○ Fundus: digestive region, secretes enzyme
pepsinogen and hydrochloric acid
○ Pylorus: secretes mucous that helps neutralize acid
in the stomach
● Agnathans
○ Poorly developed
6
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023
○ Slight enlargement of the posterior end of the
esophagus
○ Reduced in size in non-parasitic lamprey
● Fishes
○ No distinction between esophagus and stomach
○ Dipnoi, chimaera, and many teleosts: simple, straight
tubes without digestive function
○ Polypterus (birchir) appears as a blind pouch due to
fusion of cardia and pylorus along lesser curvature
○ Elasmobranch: J shaped
○ Teleosts: great variety of shapes
● Amphibian
○ All amphibians stomachs have digestive function
○ Frogs: wide cardia, no fundus, short and narrow
pylorus
○ Salamander: stomach is straight
● Reptile
○ Slightly U-shape with concavity lying on the right side
○ Lizards: located on left side of body, divided into
cardia and pylorus, wider than esophagus
○ Most snakes: spindle-shaped
○ Turtles: Tubular and U-shaped
○ Crocodiles: similar to birds; modified into a
gizzard-like modified region
● Birds
○ Highly specialize to compensate for lack of teeth
○ Two regions
■ Pro-ventriculus (glandular stomach)
● Corresponds to fundus
● Site for enzymatic breakdown of food
■ Gizzard (muscular stomach) - used to grind
food grains
● Corresponds to pylorus
● Site for mechanical breakdown of
food
● Tubercles on the surface help in
grinding of food grains
● Gizzard stones help in digestion
● Seed-eating: highly developed
gizzard, non-seed eating: less
developed
● Mammals
○ Generally transversely position, but vary in shapes
and modifications
○ Logomorphs (rabbits) - large cardia (on the left side),
fundus is largest portion, small pylorus (on the right
side); deep gastric pits with glands along the folded
lining
○ Monotremes: pouch-like stomach; for storage only;
no gastric glands
○ Marsupials: cardia is largest part and lies behind the
esophagus; with series of sacullated floods in its
walls; fundus and pylorus are reduced
○ Blood-sucking bat: pylorus is elongated into
caecum-like structure that gets filled up with blood
during feeding
○ Edentates (armadillo, anteater): glands concentrated
on the greater curvature
7
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023
Mammals - Ruminants
● Specialized stomach in herbivorous mammals such as cows
and deers
● For digestion of pla nts containing cellulose
● 4 compartment of the ruminant stomach
○ Rumen
○ Reticulum
○ Omasum
○ Abomasum
● Camel: water cell found in the rumen and reticulum
INTESTINE
● Site for completion of digestion and absorption of nutrients
● Enzymes completely convert ingested food into easily
absorable simpler units
● Ability to absorb is dependent upon available surface area
and specializations to increase surface area and/or slow
passage food
● Agnathans:
○ Straight; ends with a slightly enlarged rectum which
opens to a cloacal depression
● Fishes
○ Elasmobranchs: shorter than stomach
○ Spinal valve slows the transit of digested food for
increased absorption of nutrients
○ Large intestine is a short passage between the small
intestine and cloaca
○ Teleosts: length and size vary
■ Carps: have huge long coiled intestine
■ Catfish (carnivorous): have short intestine
● Amphibians
○ Duodenum forms a U with a stomach; illeum do not
have true villi and caecum is lacking
○ Caecillians: slightly coiled; not differentiated into
regions
○ Urodeles: highly coiled small intestine: short and
straight large intestine
● Reptiles and Birds
○ Uniform in diameter; elongated and coiled
○ Large intestines are greater in diameter but short;
opens into the cloaca
○ Bursa Fabricius - seen in birds but not reptiles;
primary organ in avain species
● Mammals
○ Long and short coiled intestine differentiated into
duodenum, jejunum, and ileum
○ Large intestine is long (but shorter than small
intestine)
● Lizards, birds, and mammals: small intestinal wall lined with
villi
● In many teleosts and mammals (except monotremes):
urogenital and anal openings are separate
● Vermiform appendix: absent in fishes, reptiles, and birds but
present in mammals
CLOACA
● End of intestine in many vertebrates opens into the cloaca
(sewer)
8
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023

● Forms during development as a second invagination called ● Liver Lobes and Processes
the proctodeum ○ Deep fissures divide the liver into four basic lobes
● First separated from gut by cloacal membrane that will break and two process
down ■ Left and right lobe may be divided into medial
● Cloaca is small chamber where digestive, urinary, and and lateral lobe depending on species
reproductive systems empty
● Cloaca is absent in some fishes and most mammals
Left Lobe Lies to the left of the median plane except in
ruminants
ACCESSORY DIGESTIVE ORGANS
Right Lobe Lies to the right of the median plane
LIVER
● Largest gland in the body Quadrate Located between the right and left lobes and
Lobe ventral to the porta of the liveer
● Extramural digestive gland of substantial importance in
metabolism Caudate Located dorsal to the porta of the liver consisting
● Situated between vessels draining the intestines and the Lobe of caudate and papillary processes
general circulation ● Papillary process: located on the left of the
● Develops as an outpocketing of the gut in the ventral median plane lying in the lesser curvature
mesentery below anterior part of the intestine of the stomach
● Caudate process: most caudal region of
● Functions
the liver
○ Detoxification of drugs and toxins
○ Formation and secretion of bile
○ Metabolism of carbohydrates and fats
○ Plasma protein production
○ Urea formation
○ Inactivation of polypeptide hormones
○ Reduction and conjugation of adrenal and gonadal
steroid hormones

9
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
COMPANA (Lecture)
BIOMED | PROF. ROSITA GAN | SEM 2 2023

GALLBLADDER ○ Often have only a single duct; sometimes multiple

● Developed in most craniates ducts (birds have three)
● None develops in lampreys, a few teleosts, many birds, ○ Cats and humans have both a pancreatic and
perissodactyls, whales, and some rodents (including rats accessory pancreatic duct
and mice)
○ Have very little fat in their diet
● Always present in carnivores and lacking in some
vertebrates

PANCREAS
● Mass of soft tissue lying in the mesentery not far from the
dorsal to the stomach and morphologically dorsal to the
intestine
● Consists of two histologically distinct and functionally
independent components
○ Exocrine cells secrete enzymes into the digestive
tract
○ Endocrine cells secrete hormones (insulin and
glucagon) into the bloodstream
● Arises from the endoderm as a dorsal and a ventral bud
which fuse together to form the single organ
● Mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians have a pancreas
with similar historlogy and mode of development
● In some fishes: islet cells are segregated as Brockmann
bodies
● Attachments
○ One or more pancreatic ducts open into the proximal
part of the intestine, near the entry of the bile duct

10