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FLUID ABSORPTION AND SECRETION
SMALL INTESTINE WATER ABSORPTION
- Water, can move through the intestinal mucosa in
two directions, depending on the osmotic gradient.
- If the chyme has high osmolarity, then water may
move from the plasma into the lumen of the
intesinte.
- If the chyme is more diluted, then water can enter
the intestinal mucosa, and then enter the capillaries
- The end goal of this movement is to reach an
ISOSMOTIC situation between the plasma and the
intestinal lumen.
SMALL INTESTINE
- To produce a gradient of osmosis that is
favorable to the very high amount of
water absorption that occurs in the
small intestine (About 90 percent of
intestinal water absorption), the
intestine uses the aid of active
transport of Na+ ions, to create an area
of high osmotic pressure
SMALL INTESTINE
-Na+ enters the intestinal mucosal cell through many paths,
solely diffusing through Na+ channels, or, in co-transport
with Glucose, Amino Acids, H+ ions, and Cl- ions.
-The Cell will continuously pump out the Na+ ions inside the
cell, through Na+/K+ ATPase, present at the cell’s
basolateral membrane, creating an area of high Na+
concentration at the “paracellular” are, which, in the
small intestine, lacks tight junctions, and thus are leaky.
- The accumulation of Na+ at these paracellular pockets,
create an area of HIGH OSMOTIC PRESSURE, and takes the
water in. The water will then enter the capillary system
of the villus.
LARGE INTESTINAL WATER ABSORPTION
- Absorption also occurs in the Large Intestine, but due to it’s
much lower absorption surface area, not to the same extent
as the small intestine
- - There is water absorption with a similar mechanism as
there is in the Small Intestine, with passive diffusion, and
the water being “Dragged” along with active transport of
Na+
- But the tight junctions of the large intestine are much
tighter, allowing much less back diffusion from the plasma
to the lumen
REFERENCE
Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology (Guyton
Physiology) 13th Edition
Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems 9th Edition