Digestion System

Digestion is the process of metabolism whereby a biological entity processes a substance in order to chemically and

mechanically convert the substance for the body to use.

Phases of human digestion

• 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. After this it is routed through the vagus nerve.

• Gastric phase - This phase takes 3 to 4 hours. It is stimulated by distention of the stomach and alkaline pH. Distention activates long and myentric reflexes. This activates the release of acetylcholine which stimulates the release of more gastric juices. As protein enters the stomach, it binds to hydrogen ions, which raises the pH of the stomach to an alkaline level. This triggers G cells to release gastrin, which in turn stimulates parietal cells to secrete HCl. HCl release is also triggered by acetylcholine and histamine.

• Intestinal phase - This phase has 2 parts, the excitatory and the inhibitory. Partially-digested food fills the duodenum. This triggers intestinal gastrin to be released. Enterogastric reflex inhibits vagal nuclei, activating sympathetic fibers causing the pyloric sphincter to tighten to prevent more food from entering, and inhibits local reflexes.

Oral cavity

• In humans, digestion begins in the oral cavity where food is chewed. Saliva is secreted in large amounts (1-1.5 litre/day) by three pairs of exocrine salivary glands (parotid, submandibular, and sublingual) in the oral cavity, and is mixed with the chewed food by the tongue. There are two types of saliva. One is a thin, watery secretion, and its purpose is to wet the food. The other is a thick, mucous secretion, and it acts as a lubricant and causes food particles to stick together and form a bolus. The saliva serves to clean the oral cavity and moisten the food, and contains digestive enzymes such as salivary amylase, which aids in the chemical breakdown of polysaccharides such as starch into disaccharides such as maltose. It also contains mucin, a glycoprotein which help soften the food into a bolus.

• Swallowing transports the chewed food into the esophagus, passing through the oropharynx and hypopharynx. The mechanism for swallowing is coordinated by the swallowing center in the medulla oblongata and pons. The reflex is initiated by touch receptors in the pharynx as the bolus of food is pushed to the back of the mouth.

Esophagus • The esophagus, a narrow, muscular tube about 20

centimeters (8 inches) long, starts at the pharynx, passes through the thorax and diaphragm, and ends at the cardiac orifice of the stomach. The wall of the esophagus is made up of two layers of smooth muscles, which form a continuous layer from the esophagus to the rectum and contract slowly, over long periods of time. The inner layer of muscles is arranged circularly in a series of descending rings, while the outer layer is arranged longitudinally. At the top of the esophagus, is a flap of tissue called the epiglottis that closes during swallowing to prevent food from entering the trachea (windpipe). The chewed food is pushed down the esophagus to the stomach through peristaltic contraction of these muscles. It takes only seconds for food to pass through the esophagus, and little digestion actually takes place.

Stomach • The food enters the stomach after passing through the

cardiac orifice. In the stomach, food is further broken apart thoroughly mixed with a gastric acid and digestive enzymes that denature proteins. The acid itself does not break down food molecules, rather, the acid provides an optimum pH for the reaction of the enzyme pepsin. The parietal cells of the stomach also secrete a glycoprotein called intrinsic factor which enables the absorption of vitamin B-12. Other small molecules such as alcohol are absorbed in the stomach as well by passing through the membrane of the stomach and entering the circulatory system directly.

Small intestine • After being processed in the stomach, food is

passed to the small intestine via the pyloric sphincter. The majority of digestion and absorption occur here as chyme enters the duodenum. Here it is further mixed with three different liquids:

• bile, which emulsifies fats to allow absorption, neutralizes the chyme, and is used to excrete waste products such as bilin and bile acids (which has other uses as well). However, it is not an enzyme!

• pancreatic juice made by the pancreas • intestinal enzymes of the alkaline mucosal

membranes. The enzymes include: maltase, lactase and sucrase, to process sugars; trypsin and chymotrypsin are also added in the small intestine

Large intestine • After the food has been passed through the

small intestine, the food enters the large intestine. The large intestine is roughly 1.5 meters long, with three parts: the cecum at the junction with the small intestine, the colon, and the rectum. The colon itself has four parts: the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending colon, and the sigmoid colon. The large intestine absorbs water from the bolus and stores feces until it can be excreted. Food products that cannot go through the villi, such as cellulose (dietary fiber), are mixed with other waste products from the body and become feces.

– The digestion is done of:

• Carbohydrate digestion.

• Fat digestion.

• Digestive hormones.

• JOSÉ ANTONIO JIMÉNEZ

• FRANCISCO J. CABELLO

• FRANCISCO J. HINOJOSA