11 Digestive Secretions and Digestion

Digestive
Secretions
and
Digestion.
March 11, 2024 KAJI MG 1
Learning Objectives
• State functions and control of saliva secretion
• List secretions of gastric glands
• Explain regulation of gastric secretion
• Explain production of pancreatic secretions
• Recognise intestinal juice and bile secretions
• Describe digestion process
• Describe absorption and elimination processes

Function and Control of Saliva
• Digestive secretions are secretions which are
important for the process of digestion.
• These secretions are produced by various glands in
the gastrointestinal tract and its accessory organs.
• The digestion process start in the mouth.
• In the mouth there is salivary glands which produce
saliva.
• Saliva is secreted in large amounts (1-1.5 litres/day)
by three pairs of Salivary glands
Function and Control of Saliva Cont...
• Submandibular glands are compound
glands that contain enzymes and mucous-
producing element
• Parotid glands are the largest of the
paired salivary glands produce watery
saliva containing enzymes
• Sublingual glands are the smallest of the
salivary glands produce a mucous type of
saliva
Function and Control of Saliva Cont...
• Saliva consists of Mucus which
lubricates food and water facilitate
mixing of food
• Amylase is an enzyme that begins
digestion of starches by converting it to
maltose and isomaltose.
• Sodium bicarbonate increases the pH
for optimum amylase function
Control of saliva secretion
Only reflex mechanisms control the secretion of
saliva
• Chemical and mechanical stimuli come from
presence of food in the mouth
• Olfactory and visual stimuli come from smell
and sight of food
• In the oesophagus the mucosa lining of the
oesophagus secrete mucus secretions which is
important for lubrication and allow food to move
more smoothly through the oesophagus
Secretions of Gastric Glands
• The gastric mucosa lining has secretory cells which
secrete secretions essential for digestion process.
• Pepsinogen is a protease enzyme that begins the
digestion of protein. It is produced by chief cells, as
inactive form.
• It is activated by hydrochloric acid by removing
some of its amino acids and converts it to pepsin.
• In infants, the chief cells also secrete gastric lipase
and chymosin (rennin).
• Gastric lipase digests some of butterfat of milk, and
chymosin curdles milk by coagulating its proteins.
Secretions of Gastric Glands cont...
• Hydrochloric acid (secreted by parietal cells)
decreases the pH of chyme for activation and
optimum function of pepsin.
• Other functions include:
• It activates the enzymes pepsin and lingual lipase.
• It breaks up connective tissue and plant cell walls,
helping to liquefy food and form chyme
• It converts ingested ferric ions (Fe3+) to ferrous
Fe2+ form of iron that can be absorbed and used
for haemoglobin synthesis
• It help to destroy ingested bacteria and other
pathogens.
Secretions of Gastric Glands cont...
• Intrinsic factor (secreted by parietal
cells) protects vitamin B12 and later
facilitates its absorption.
• Without vitamin B12, haemoglobin
cannot be synthesized and pernicious
anemia develops
• Mucus and water lubricates, protects
and facilitates mixing of chime

Regulation of Gastric Secretion
• The nervous and endocrine systems
collaborate to increase gastric secretion
and motility when food is eaten and
suppresses them as the stomach empties.
• Gastric activity is divided into three stages
called the cephalic, gastric, and intestinal
phases
• These phases overlap and all can occur
simultaneously.
Cephalic phase
• This phase occurs before food enters the
stomach and involves preparation of the
body for eating and digestion.
• Sight and thought stimulate the cerebral
cortex.
• Taste and smell stimulus is sent to the
hypothalamus and medulla oblongata.
• Gastric secretion at this phase rises to 40%
of maximum rate.
Gastric phase.
• This phase takes 3 to 4 hours.
• It is stimulated by distension of the
stomach, presence of food in stomach and
decrease in pH.
• Distension activates long and myentric
reflexes.
• This activates the release of acetylcholine
which stimulates the release of more gastric
juices.
Intestinal phase.
• When the partially digested contents of the
stomach reach the small intestine two
hormones Secretin and Cholecystokinin (CCK)
are produced by endocrine cells in the
intestinal mucosa.
• These slow down secretion of Gastric juice
and reduce Gastric motility.
• By slowing rate of the stomach, the chime and
the duodenum become more parallel mixed
with bile and pancreatic juice.
• This phase of gastric secretion is most marked
following a meal with high fat content.
Pancreatic Secretions Production
• Pancreatic juice; secreted by acinar and
ducts cells of the pancreas are important
for the digestion of all major classes of
food.
The major enzymes produced by the
pancreas are:
– Proteolytic enzymes the; Trypsin,
chymotrypsin and carboxypeptidase
(essential for proteins and polypeptides
digest)
Pancreatic Secretions cont...
• They are secreted in their inactive forms as
trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, and
procarboxypeptidase.
• If were produced in active form they would digest
the tissues producing them.
• Within the pancreas, enzyme activation is
prevented by an antiproteolytic enzyme secreted
by the acinar cells
• Duodenal enzyme, enterokinase, converts
trypsinogen to trypsin.
• Trypsin, in turn, activates chymotrypsin, elastase,
carboxypeptidase, and phospholipase
• Amylase is an enzyme that digests starches.
• Pancreatic amylase continues the
polysaccharide digestion which was initiated
in the oral cavity
• Is the only digestive enzyme secreted by the
pancreas in an active form
• Functions optimally at a ph of 7
• Hydrolyzes starch and glycogen to glucose,
maltose, maltotriose, and dextrins

• Lipid digesting enzyme called pancreatic lipase,
break down lipids into free fatty acids and
cholesterol.
• Function optimally at a pH of 7 to 9
• Emulsify and hydrolyze fat in the presence of bile
salts
• Lipases are enzymes that digest nucleic acid such
as DNA and RNA
• Sodium bicarbonates increases the pH for
optimum enzyme function; its manufacture also
helps restore normal pH of blood
Control of Pancreatic Secretions
• Pancreatic secretion is stimulated by several
hormones released by intestinal mucosa
• Secretin cause the production of pancreatic
fluid low in enzyme but high in bicarbonate
• CCK has several functions :
• Causes increased exocrine secretion from the
pancreas
• Opposes gastrin, thus inhibiting gastric HCL
secretion
• Stimulates contraction of the gallbladder so
that bile is released into the duodenum
Intestinal Juice and Bile
• Intestinal juice is secreted by intestinal exocrine cells
• Mucus and water lubricate and aid in continued mixing
of chyme
• Sodium bicarbonate increases pH for optimum enzyme
function
• Enzymes of the intestinal mucosa are bound to the
membranes of the absorptive cell microvilli.
• These surface-bound enzymes include;-
• Disacccharidases (sucrase, maltase, and lactase) which
break disaccharides (sucrose, maltose and lactose)
down to monosaccharides (glucose, fructose &
galactose).
Intestinal Juice and Bile cont...
• Peptidases, which hydrolyse the peptide
bonds between small amino acid chains
• Nucleases, which break down nucleic acids.
• Intestinal lipase which splits fats into fatty
acids and glycerol.
• Intestinal secretion is regulated by the
intestinal mucosa when stimulated to
release hormone that increase the
production of intestinal juice
Intestinal Juice and Bile cont...
• Bile secreted by the liver, stored and concentrated
in the gallbladder
• Lecithin and bile salts emulsify fats by encasing
them in a shells to form tiny spheres called micelles
• Sodium bicarbonate increases pH for optimum
enzyme function
• Cholesterol, products of detoxification and bile
pigments (e.g. bilirubin) are the waste products
excreted by the liver and eventually eliminated in
the faeces
• Bile is secreted continually by the liver; secretin and
CCK stimulate ejection of bile from the gallbladder
Digestion Process
• Is the process by which the body breaks
down chemicals into smaller components
that can be absorbed by the blood stream.
• Digestion is a multi-stage process in the
digestive system, starting from ingestion.
• Mechanical digestion breaks large food
particles into smaller one
• Chemical digestion involves the breaking of
covalent chemical bonds in organic molecules
by digestive enzymes
Digestion Process cont...
• Digestion begins in the oral cavity where food is chewed and
mixed with saliva containing enzymes.
• The stomach continues to break food down mechanically and
chemically through the churning of the stomach and mixing
with enzymes
• The acid in the stomach does not break down food molecules;
rather it provides an optimum pH for the reaction of the
enzyme pepsin and kills many microorganisms that are
ingested with the food.
• Small molecules such as alcohol are absorbed in the stomach,
passing through the membrane of the stomach and entering
the circulatory system directly.
• Food in the stomach is in semi-liquid form, which is known as
chyme.
• The digestive process is enhanced by
gastric and intestinal motility, the
peristalsis and segmentation.
• These are produced by the smooth
muscles of the GI tract.
• Peristalsis is wave like ripple of the muscle
layer of a hollow organ; progressive
motility that produces forward movement
of matter along the GI tract
• Segmentation is a mixing movement; digestive
reflexes cause a forward and backward
movement with a single segment of the GI tract;
helps breakdown food particles, mixes food and
digestive juices and brings digested food in
contact with intestinal mucosa to facilitate
absorption
• Chemical digestion is a change in chemical
composition of food as it travels through the
digestive tract; these changes are the results of
hydrolysis
Carbohydrates Digestion
• Carbohydrates are saccharide compounds.
• Are the most abundant biological
molecules, and fill numerous roles, such as
the storage and transport of energy
(starch, glycogen) and structural
components
• Polysaccharides are hydrolyzed by amylase
to form disaccharides (sucrose, lactose,
and maltose)
Carbohydrates Digestion cont...
• Final step of carbohydrate digestion are
catalysed by sucrase, lactase, and maltase,
which are found in the cell membrane of
epithelial cells covering the villi that line the
intestinal lumen.
• The basic carbohydrate units are called
monosaccharides, include galactose,
fructose, and glucose.
• Monosaccharides can be linked together to
form polysaccharides.
Example of Disaccharides and their
constituent Monosaccharides
Disaccharides Monosaccharide
Sucrose (Cane sugar) Glucose + Fructose
Maltose (Malt sugar) Glucose + Glucose
Lactose (Milk sugar) Glucose + Galactose

Protein digestion
• Proteins are made of amino acids arranged in a
linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds.
• Many proteins are the enzymes that catalyze the
chemical reactions in metabolism.
• Protease catalyse hydrolysis of protein into
intermediate compounds and finally into amino
acids
• Main protease:
• Pepsin in gastric juice,
• Trypsin in pancreatic juice,
• March
Peptidase
11, 2024 in intestinal brush
KAJI MG border 30
Fat digestion
• Fats must be emulsified by bile in the small
intestine before being digested
• Pancreatic lipase is the main fat-digesting
enzyme
• The presence of fat in the small intestine
produces hormones which stimulate the release
of lipase from the pancreas and bile from the
gallbladder.
• The lipase breaks down the fat into monoglycerides
and fatty acids.
• The bile emulsifies the fatty acids so they may be
Absorption and Elimination
• Absorption is the process by which
molecules are moved out of the digestive
tract and into the circulation for
distribution throughout the body.
Process of absorption
• Passage of substances through the
intestinal mucosa into the blood or lymph
• Most absorption occurs in the small
intestine
Mechanism of absorption
• For some substances such as water, absorption
occurs by simple diffusion or osmosis
• Other substances are absorbed through complex
mechanisms.
• Some monosaccharides like fructose are
transferred by facilitated diffusion to the
capillaries of the intestinal villi.
• Sodium is absorbed by active transport and
glucose and amino acid co-transport.
• After food is absorbed, it travels to the liver via
the portal system
Absorption cont...
• Most absorption takes place in the small
intestine in the duodenum and jejunum
although some absorption occurs in the ileum
such as Vitamin B12 and bile salts are
absorbed in the terminal ileum.
• Iron is absorbed in the duodenum.
• Absorption of certain molecules can occur all
along the digestive tract.
• A few chemicals such as nitroglycerin, can be
absorbed through the thin mucosa of the oral
cavity below the tongue
Absorption cont...
• Alcohol and aspirin are absorbed in the stomach
• Water and lipids are absorbed by passive
diffusion throughout the small intestine.
• Elimination – the expulsion of faeces from the

digestive tract; act of expelling faeces is called
defecation
• Defecation occur as a result of a reflex brought
about by stimulation of receptors in the rectal
mucosa that is produced when the rectum is
distended
Absorption cont...
• Constipation – contents of the lower
colon and rectum move at a slower than
normal rate; extra water is absorbed from
the faeces, resulting in a hardened stool
• Diarrhoea – results of increased motility
of the small intestine, causing decreased
absorption of water and electrolytes and a
watery stool

11 Digestive Secretions and Digestion

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11 Digestive Secretions and Digestion

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Digestive

March 11, 2024 KAJI MG 2

March 11, 2024 KAJI MG 10

March 11, 2024 KAJI MG 17

Sucrose (Cane sugar) Glucose + Fructose

Maltose (Malt sugar) Glucose + Glucose

Lactose (Milk sugar) Glucose + Galactose

March 11, 2024 KAJI MG 29

• Elimination – the expulsion of faeces from the

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