● Mesentery connecting lesser curvature of stomach

Digestive System to liver and diaphragm

Digestion and the digestive system Greater omentum:
● Is the breakdown of large organic molecules into ● Mesentery connecting greater curvature of stomach
smaller molecules that can be absorbed to transverse colon and posterior body wall
● Performs the task of digestion (fig 16.3)
● Food is taken into the digestive system, where it is
enzymatically broken down into smaller and smaller Oral cavity
particles for absorption ● First part of digestive system
● Contains stratified squamous epithelia
Digestive system functions Salivary glands:
- ingestion of solids and liquids ● Produce saliva which contains enzymes to
- digestion of organic molecules breakdown carbohydrates into glucose
- absorption of nutrients ● Cleanse mouth
- elimination of waste ● Dissolve and moisten food
(fig 16.1) Amylase:
● Salivary enzyme that breaks down
Digestive system carbohydrates
● Consists of the digestive tract, plus specific Lysozyme:
associated organs ● Salivary enzymes that are active against
● Digestive tract is also referred to as the GI bacteria
(gastrointestinal tract) Tongue:
● The tract is one long tube from the mouth to the ● House taste buds and mucus
anus (fig 16.4)

Digestive tract components Teeth

Consists of: ● 32 teeth in normal adult
Oral cavity Small intestines ● Incisors, canine, premolars, molars, wisdom
Pharynx Large intestines ● 20 primary teeth (baby teeth)
Esophagus Rectum ● Each tooth has crown, cusp, neck, root
Stomach Anus ● Center of tooth is pulp cavity (where different
nerves and blood vessels go through)
Associated organs ● Enamel is hard covering protects against abrasions
The digestive system includes some associated organs not ● Cavities are breakdown of enamel by acids from
directly in the digestive tract, but have ducts that lead into the bacteria
tract (fig 16.5, 6)
Associated organs are: Palate
Salivary glands Gallbladder Palate:
Liver Pancreas ● Roof of oral cavity
Hard palate:
Layers of digestive tract wall ● Anterior part
Layers of the tract wall are also termed tunics Soft palate:
1. Mucosa: ● Posterior part
● Innermost layer
● Secretes mucus Salivary glands
2. Submucosa: Salivary glands:
● Above mucosa ● Includes submandibular, sublingual, parotid
● Contains blood vessels, nerves, small ● Produce saliva contains enzymes to breakdown
glands food
3. Muscularis: ● Mumps is inflammation of parotid gland
● Above submucosa (fig 16.7)
● Longitudinal, circular, and oblique muscles
4. serosa/adventitia: Pharynx
● Outermost layer ● Throat
● Peritoneum is present called serosa ● Connects the mouth to the esophagus
● No peritoneum then called adventitia It has 3 parts:
(fig 16.2) Nasopharynx
Oropharynx
Peritoneum Laryngopharynx
Layer of smooth epithelial tissue
Mesenteries:
● Connective tissue of organs in abdominal cavity
Lesser omentum:
Esophagus ● Acidic chyme stimulates neuronal reflexes and
● Tube that connects the pharynx to the stomach secretions of hormones that inhibit gastric
● Transports food to the stomach secretions by negative feedback loops
● Joins stomach at cardiac opening (fig 16.11a, c)
Heartburn:
● Occurs when gastric juices regurgitate into Movement in stomach
esophagus Mixing waves:
● Caused by caffeine, smoking, or eating/drinking in ● Weak contraction
excess ● Thoroughly mix food to form chyme
Swallowing Peristaltic waves:
Voluntary phase: ● Stronger contraction
● Bolus (mass of food) formed in mouth and pushed ● Force chyme toward and through pyloric sphincter
into oropharynx
Pharyngeal phase: ● Hormonal and neural mechanisms stimulates
● Swallowing reflex initiated when bolus stimulates stomach secretions
receptors in oropharynx ● Stomach empties every 4 hours after regular meal,
Esophageal phase: and 6 to 8 hours after high fatty meal
● Moves food from pharynx to stomach (fig 16.12)
Peristalsis: Small intestine
● Wave-like contractions moves food through ● Measures 6 meters in length
digestive tract ● Major absorptive organ
(fig 16.8, 9) ● Chyme takes 3-5 hours to pass through
● Contains enzymes to further breakdown food
Stomach ● Contains secretions for protection against the
● Located in abdomen acidity of chyme
● Storage tank for food
● Can hold up to 2 liters of food Parts of the small intestine
● Produces mucus, hydrochloric acid, protein Duodenum:
digesting enzymes ● First part
● Contains a thick mucus layer that lubricates and ● 25 cm long
protects epithelial cells on stomach wall form acidic ● Contains absorptive cells, goblet cells, granular
pH (3) cells, endocrine cells
3 muscular layers: ● Contains microvilli and many folds
● Outer longitudinal, middle circular, and inner oblique ● Contains bile and pancreatic ducts
to produce churning action Jejunum:
Rugae: ● Second part
● large folds that allow stomach to stretch ● 2.5 meters long and absorbs nutrients
Chyme: Ileum:
● paste-like substance that forms when food begins to ● Third part
be broken down ● 3.5 meters long
Pyloric opening: (fig 16.13)
● opening between stomach and small intestine
Pyloric sphincter:
Mucosa of the small intestine
● thick, ring of smooth muscle around pyloric opening
● The mucosa of the small intestine is simple
Hunger pangs:
columnar epithelium with four major cell types
● stomach is stimulated to contract by low blood
1. Absorptive cells, which have microvilli, produce digestive
glucose levels usually 12-24 hours after a meal
enzymes, and absorb digested food
(fig 16.10)
2. Goblet cells, which produce a protective mucus
3. Granular cells, which may help protect the intestinal
Regulation of stomach secretions epithelium from bacteria; and
● Parasympathetic stimulation, gastrin, histamine 4. Endocrine cells, which produce regulatory hormones
increase stomach secretions ● The epithelial cells are located within tubular glands
Cephalic phase: of the mucosa, called intestinal glands or crypts of
● 1st phase lieberkühn, at the base of the villi
● Stomach secretions are initiated by sight, smell, ● Granular and endocrine cells are located in the
taste, or food thought bottom of the glands
Gastric phase: ● The submucosa of the duodenum contains mucous
● 2nd phase glands, called duodenal glands, which open into
● Partially digested proteins and distention of the base of the intestinal glands
stomach promote secretion Secretions of the small intestine
Intestinal phase: ● The epithelial cells in the walls of the small intestine
● 3rd phase have enzymes bound to their free surfaces
 ● Peptidases enzymatically breakdown proteins into Functions of the liver
amino acids for absorption ● Digestive and excretory functions
● Disaccharidases enzymatically breakdown ● Stores and processes nutrients
disaccharides into monosaccharides for absorption ● Detoxifies harmful chemicals
(fig 16.14) ● Synthesizes new molecules
● Secretes 700 milliliters of bile each day
Movement in the small intestine Bile:
● Mixing and propulsion of chyme are the primary ● Dilutes and neutralizes stomach acid and breaks
mechanical events that occur in the small intestine down fats
● Peristaltic contractions proceed along the length (fig 16.18)
of the intestine for variable distances and cause the
chyme to move along the small intestine Pancreas
● Segmental contractions are propagated for only ● Located posterior to stomach in inferior part of left
short distances and mix intestinal contents upper quadrant
● The ileocecal sphincter at the juncture of the ileum ● Head near midline of body
and the large intestine remains mildly contracted ● Tail extends to left and touches spleen
most of the time ● Endocrine tissues have pancreatic islets that
● Peristaltic contractions reaching the ileocecal produce insulin and glucagon
sphincter from the small intestine cause the ● Exocrine tissues produce digestive enzymes that
sphincter to relax and allow chyme to move from travel through ducts
the small intestine into the cecum
Pancreatic secretions
● The ileocecal valve prevents movements from the
The major protein-digesting enzymes are:
large intestine back into the ileum
Trypsin, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase
(fig 16.15)
● Pancreatic amylase continues the polysaccharide
digestion that began in the oral cavity
Liver anatomy ● The pancreatic enzyme lipase is a lipid-digesting
● Weighs about 3 lbs enzyme
● Located in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen ● The pancreatic nuclease enzymes degrade DNA
under the diaphragm and RNA to their component nucleotides
● Consists of right, left, caudate, and quadrate lobes (fig 16.19, 20)
Porta:
● Gate where blood vessels, ducts, nerves enter and
Large intestine
exit
● Function is to absorb water from indigestible food
● Contains cecum, colon, rectum, anal canal
● Receives arterial blood from the hepatic artery
Cecum:
(fig 16.16)
● Joins small intestine at ileocecal junction
Lobules:
● Has appendix attached
● Divisions of liver with portal triads at corners
Appendix:
Portal triad:
● 9cm structure that i often removed
● Contain hepatic artery, hepatic portal vein, hepatic
Colon:
duct
● 1.5 meters long
Hepatic cords:
● Contains ascending, transverse, descending,
● Between center margins of each lobule
sigmoid regions
● Separated by hepatic sinusoids
Rectum:
Hepatic sinusoids:
● Straight tube that begins at sigmoid and ends at
● Contain phagocytic cells that remove foreign
anal canal
particles from blood
Anal canal:
Central vein:
● Last 2-3 cm of dig. Tract
● Center of each lobule
● Where mixed blood flows towards
● Food takes 18-24 hours to pass through
● Forms hepatic veins
● Feces is product of water, indigestible food, and
microbes
Liver ducts ● Microbes synthesize vitamin K
Hepatic duct: (fig 16.21)
● Transport bile out of liver
Common hepatic duct:
Digestive process
● Formed from left and right hepatic duct
1. Digestion:
Cystic duct:
● Breakdown of food occurs in stomach and mouth
● Joins common hepatic duct
2. Propulsion:
● From gallbladder
● Moves food through digestive tract includes
Common bile duct
swallowing and peristalsis
● Formed from common hepatic duct and cystic duct
3. Absorption:
(fig 16.17)
 ● Primarily in duodenum and jejunum of small
intestine
4. Defecation:
● Elimination of waste in the form of feces
(fig 16.22, 23)
Carbohydrate digestion
● Polysaccharides split into disaccharides by salivary
and pancreatic amylases
● Disaccharides are broken down into
monosaccharides by disaccharidases on the
surface of intestinal epithelium
● Glucose is absorbed by cotransport with Na+ into
the intestinal epithelium
● Glucose is carried by the hepatic portal vein to the
liver and enters most cells by facilitated diffusion
(fig 16.24)
● Absorption of tripeptides, dipeptides, or individual
amino acids occurs through the intestinal epithelial
cells by various cotransport mechanisms
(fig 16.27)
Water and minerals
● Water can move across the intestinal wall in either
direction
● The movement depends on osmotic pressures
● 99% of water entering intestine is absorbed
● Minerals are actively transported across wall of
small intestine
(fig 16.28)

Lipid digestion
● Lipase breaks down triglycerides into fatty acids
and monoglycerides
● Bile salts surround fatty acids and monoglycerides
to form micelles
● Micelles attach to the plasma membranes of
intestinal epithelial cells, and the fatty acids and
monoglycerides pass by simple diffusion into the
intestinal epithelial cells
● Within the intestinal epithelial cell, the fatty acids
and monoglycerides are converted to triglycerides
● Proteins coat the triglycerides to form chylomicrons,
which move out of the intestinal epithelial cells by
exocytosis
● The chylomicrons enter the lacteals of the intestinal
villi and are carried through the lymphatic system to
the blood
(fig 16.25)

Lipoproteins
● Lipids are packaged into lipoproteins to allow
transport in the lymph and blood
● Lipoproteins are molecules that are part water
soluble and part lipid soluble
● Since lymph and blood contain water and lipids are
not water soluble, lipoproteins are necessary for
transport
● Lipoproteins include chylomicrons, low-density
lipoproteins (LDL), and high-density lipoproteins
(HDL)
(fig 16.26)

Protein digestion
● Pepsin is a protein-digesting enzyme secreted by
the stomach
● The pancreas secretes trypsin, chymotrypsin, and
carboxypeptidase into the small intestine in an
inactive state
● In the small intestines these enzymes are activated
● In the small intestine, other enzymes termed
peptidases, bound to the microvilli of the intestinal
epithelium further break down small peptides into
tripeptides