Digestion & digestive system

Holozoic nutrition :
Animals feed by ingesting ready made complex organic matter (solid or liquid) obtained
from other organisms.
This mode of feeding on ready-made complex organic matter is known as holozoic
nutrition.

The intake of food and the process that convert food substances into living matter(cells
& cytoplasm) are known as nutrition ,

Nutrition / digestion comprises of 5 steps :

1) Ingestion : Intake of food into the body. Ingestion is done through the mouth /
buccal cavity.
2) Digestion : The process of breakdown of large, complex, insoluble food into
small, simple, soluble food parts are called Digestion.
Digestion starts in the mouth , continues in the stomach and ends in the small
intestine.
Carbohydrate ----> glucose /monosaccharide
Protein------> amino acid
Fat -----> Fatty acids & glycerol
3) Absorption : The process whereby digested food materials are taken into the
blood & then into the body cells.
4) Assimilation : The process whereby some of the absorbed food materials are
converted into new protoplasm or used to provide energy.
5) Egestion : The process in which non digested part of the food is driven out of the
body.

Mammalian digestive system : (Human digestive system )

Organs of Digestive system
Mouth
Oesophagus
Stomach
Small Intestine : Duodenum
Illium
Large intestine : Ascending colon
Transverse colon
 Descending colon
Rectum (opens into anus )
Accessory Organs :
Teeth
Tongue
Salivary glands (3 Pairs )
Liver
It produces bile .
Bile has no enzyme
Helps in fat digestion .. it breaks down fat into small oil droplets . so that lipase enzyme
can work on it . it is called emulsifying fat. It is physical digestion .

Gall bladder
Pancreas
Organs of Digestive system :
Mouth
Esophagus
Stomach
Small intestine : Duodenum
Jejunum
 Ilium
Large intestine : (colon )
Ascending colon
Transverse colon
Descending colon
Rectum
Anus

Accessory organs of digestive system:

Teeth
Tongue
Salivary gland
Liver
Pancreas
Gall bladder

Process of digestion

What happens in mouth :

A) Mechanical/Physical digestion in mouth
1) Food is taken in and chewed by the teeth (mastication )
So that the food is made into smaller pieces , easier to swallow , the food is also
increased with the surface area , , and the enzymes can work better.
2) Mucin (slippery substance) from saliva is mixed with the food , the food is easier
to swallow
3) The tongue rolls the food and makes into balls called bolus and then easily
pushed back and swallowed. The taste buds in the tongue help to identify food.
B) Chemical change/chemical digestion in mouth:
4) Saliva contains salivary amylase(carbohydrase) which breaks down
starch (polysaccharide) to maltose(monosaccharide).
( polysaccharide -------> disaccharide )
pH of mouth is a bit alkaline.. Which is optimum for salivary amylase.
Oesophagus :
The organ that is just after the mouth which connects the mouth and the stomach is
oesophagus.

It is a narrow, muscular tube. It passes through the thorax or chest cavity and the
diaphragm to join the stomach.
( The diaphragm is a sheet of muscle which separates the thorax and the abdomen )

The wall of the oesophagus is made up of two layers of muscles(circular & longitudinal
muscle). The muscles are not only present in the oesophagus but also present along
the gut from the oesophagus to the anus.

The two layers of muscles are :

● The longitudinal muscle on the outside of the gut and
● The circular muscles on the inside of the gut.
These two layers of muscles cause rhythmic, wave-like contractions of the gut wall.
Such movements are known as peristalsis.

Importance of peristalsis :
● It helps the food to move along the gut.
● It helps the food to be mixed properly with digestive juices.
What happens to food in stomach :

What is stomach :
The stomach is a distensible muscular bag, with thick and well-developed muscular
walls. When the stomach is fully distended, it sends signals to the brain that it is full or.
The stomach wall has numerous pits. These pits lead to gastric glands that secrete
gastric juice into the stomach cavity. Gastric juice plays an important part in digestion.

There are two elastic sphincter muscle at the beginning and at the end of the
stomach cardiac sphincter and pyloric sphincter respectively.

Protection of Stomach wall :

 ● Gastric juice is only released when food is present in the stomach .
● The Protease enzyme (pepsinogen) is released in inactive form .
● a layer of mucus protects the stomach wall from the pepsin .

Digestive process that take place in the stomach :

● The Presence of food in the stomach stimulates the gastric glands to secrete
gastric juice into the stomach cavity.
● Gastric juice is a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid (about pH 2) and 2 enzymes.
protease ( Pepsin released as pepsinogen and rennin released as prorennin.)

Once a protein source reaches the stomach, hydrochloric acid and enzymes called
proteases break it down into smaller chains of amino acids
protein—---> smaller chains of amino acids(polypeptide )

● Peristalsis in the stomach wall churns and breaks up the food. Peristalsis also
mixes the food well with gastric juice.
(Mechanical digestion).
Function of Hydrochloric acid :
● Stops the action of salivary amylase by denaturing it.
 ● Changes the inactive forms of Protease in the gastric juice into active form. It
converts:
i) pepsinogen(inactive form ) -------> pepsin (active form )
ii) prorennin (inactive form )--------> rennin(active form ) (young mammals)
● Provides a acidic medium suitable for the action of the gastric enzymes. (pepsin)
● Kills certain potentially harmful microorganisms in food Or drink.

Function of Protease enzymes (pepsinogen & prorennin)

Pepsinogen
Pepsinogen(inactive) -----> (acidic condition ) Pepsin(active)
Pepsin digests all types of protein including meat , fish , vegetable protein etc.
Protein -----> (pepsin)----> Polypeptide(shorter chains of amino acid ) Partial /
incomplete digestion of protein happens in the stomach.
No other type of food is chemically digested in the stomach.

Prorennin (released in the stomach of young mammals whose diet is basically

milk )
Prorenin(inactive ) ------>(hydrochloric acid) renin(active )
Rennin works only on milk protein

Soluble milk protein( caseinogen) ------>(rennin ) insoluble milk protein (casein )

Rennin converts soluble milk protein into insoluble milk protein.. the process is
called Coagulation or curdling.
Thus the milk protein is trapped in the stomach and the pepsin further breaks it down to
polypeptide.

Protein ------> (pepsin) ------> polypeptide.(shorter chains of amino acid )

Food normally remains in the stomach for about 3 to 4 hours. The partly digested half
liquified food is called Chyme.

Chyme is highly acidic.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It leaves the stomach but has to be made slightly alkaline before it reaches and starts
getting broken down in the small intestine.
After digestion in stomach food enters into the first part of the small intestine ….
Duodenum.

Liver produces bile

Bile is stored in the gall bladder .
not continuously secreted into the duodenum .
Only secreted when chyme reaches the duodenum .
Bile doesnot contain any enzyme . so it doesnot chemically change the food .
Bile is secreted into the duodenum through the bile duct
Bile duct : carries bile from the gall bladder to the small intestine(duodenum )
Pancreatic duct : pancreatic juice is carried from the pancreas to dudenum
Bile dut and pancreatic dict join before they enter the duodenum … it is called
COMMON BILIARY PANCREATIC DUCT

Chyme is highly acidic. It has to be made safely alkaline before it reaches the small
intestine. Also the optimum pH for intestinal enzymes is alkaline … so chyme needs to
be alkaline for complete and effective digestion in the small intestine.

● Duodenum is closely associated with Liver and pancreas.

● Liver produces a secretion called Bile and pancreas secretes pancreatic juice.
These two secretions mix with Chyme and make the necessary changes.
● Liver produces Bile which is stored in the Gallbladder. Bile is released from the
gallbladder and enters into the bile duct and mixes with the chyme.
● Pancreatic juice is released into the pancreatic duct and then enters into the
duodenum to be mixed with the Chyme.
● Pancreatic duct and bile duct join together to form the common biliary
pancreatic duct and enter the duodenum.

Digestion in the Duodenum :

The duodenum receives fluid called Bile through the bile duct from the gall-bladder in
the liver. It also receives pancreatic juice through the Pancreatic duct from the
pancreas.

Bile :
- Bile is a greenish -yellow liquid which is manufactured in the Liver from
substances resulting from the breakdown of old red blood cells.
- Bile is stored in the gallbladder and is released whenever food(chyme) is in the
duodenum.

Function of Bile :
1) Bile contains NaHCO3 sodium hydrogen carbonate
NaOH + CO2
NaOH + HCl—-> NaCl +H2O
 Bile nutralizes chyme

2) Bile emulsifies fat and makes it into fat droplets. It increases the surface area of
fat for the effective action of lipase. It makes fat digestion easy and efficient.
Emulsification : breakdown of large fat molecules to small oil droplets. It increase
the surface area and lipase enzyme will break down the fat easily .

1) Organic bile salts convert fat-soluble vitamins into water soluble vitamins so that
they can be assimilated in the body.
2) The sodium bicarbonate in bile and pancreatic juice neutralizes stomach
acid and creates an alkaline condition which is necessary for efficient
functioning of all enzymes produced in the small intestine.
3) Pancreatic juice released from the pancreas contains several enzymes which
mixes with food and continues digestion. Also the sodium bicarbonate in
pancreatic juice does the function stated above.
4) Bile salts activate the fat digesting enzyme lipase produced by the pancreas and
small intestine.
 5)

Ileum
Both digestion and absorption occur in ileum.

Digestion in ileum

Food is mixed with pancreatic enzymes and intestinal enzyme

Enzymes secreted with Pancreatic juice

1) Pancreatic amylase :
Starch —----> maltose
2) Pancreatic lipase :
Fat (emulsified )-------> Fatty acid & Glycerol
3) Enterokinase
Enzymes secreted with Intestinal Juice (released from Intestinal glands)
Digestion of protein
● Trypsinogen (inactive)----------------------->(Enterokinase)-active Trypsin
Trypsin
Protein —---> polypeptide
● Peptidase (erepsin )
Polypeptide —> amino acid

Digestion of fat
● Intestinal lipase , pancreatic lipase
Fat —---> fatty acid & glycerol

Digestion of carbohydrate small simple & soluble

● Starch —----------> maltose (pancreatic amylase )

● Maltase
Maltose —--> glucose + glucose
● Lactase
Lactose —-> glucose + galactose
● Sucrase
Sucrose —----> glucose & fructose

Absorption :
All these small simple and soluble food part are now ready to be absorbed in
blood.
Absorption occurs in the ileum through structures called villus (plura; villi )
 Absorption in Small intestine through the villus

Adaptation of Small intestine for absorption :

The rate of absorption of digested food substances depends on the following
factors :
● The surface area of the small intestine– how large the absorbing surface
is
● The membrane that separates the food substances from the blood
capillaries: digested food substances take a shorter time to pass through
the thin membrane than through the thick one. (epithelium is one cell
thick)
● The concentration gradient is maintained which helps in quick and efficient
absorption.

The small intestine is well adapted for the absorption of digested food substances.
 ● The surface area of the small intestine is increased for absorption in the following
ways
- The inner walls of the small intestine has numerous folds
- The inner walls of the small intestine are also lined with numerous , minute
, projections called villi.
- These villi further increases the surface area for absorption
- Under the microscope we see that the epithelial cells of the villi , have
numerous microvilli to increase surface area.

******Adaptation of villus for efficient absorption of digested food .

● The villi have thin walls or membrane (epithelium is only one cell thick).
● The small intestine is long to provide sufficient time for absorption.
● The intestinal wall and the villi have many capillaries to carry away the absorbed
food substances.
● In each villus is a lacteal or lymphatic capillary surrounded by blood capillaries.
● The lymphatic capillaries of the villi transport fats while the blood capillaries
transport sugars (monosaccharide: glucose, fructose, lactose…) and amino acids
away from the intestine.
● This continual transport of digested food substances maintains the concentration
gradient for the absorption of nutrients (digested food substances). Each villus
contains muscle fibres which contract to move the villus. The villi are in constant
motion, keeping them in contact with the contents of the ileum and maintaining a
steep concentration gradient for diffusion of the products of digestion.
● The epithelial cells are equipped with protein careers for efficient active transport.
They also contain a lot of mitochondria to supply the energy for active transport.
How does absorption take place in the small intestine ?
● Glucose and amino acids are absorbed by diffusion into the blood capillaries of
the villi.
● Glucose and amino acids are also absorbed by active transport. This happens
when there is a lower concentration of these digested food substances in the
lumen of the small intestine than in the blood capillaries.
● Glycerol and fatty acids diffuse into the epithelium into the lacteal
● Water and mineral salts are absorbed by the small intestine and the colon. Most
of the water is absorbed by the ilium.
Formation of hepatic portal vein :
The blood vessels in the ileum absorb the digested material. These from the ileum join
up to form a large blood vessel called the Hepatic Portal Vein, which leads to the liver.
The Liver acts rather like a food processing factory breaking some molecules down and
building up and storing others.
Egestion :
Defaecation.
Egestion is the removal of undigested food parts (waste part of the food )out of the body
as
Faeces.
The process is also called defecation.

After the nutrients are absorbed in the ileum the undigested waste, excess water and
vitamins and minerals dissolved in it all enter the large intestine.

What happens in large intestine :

1) Water is absorbed
2) Vitamins and minerals dissolved in water is absorbed
3) Peristalsis of the colon wall prepares the undigested waste into faeces , also the
colon bacteria softens the faeces and prepare them to be egested out .
4) The prepared faeces is temporarily stored in the rectum .
Egestion:
When the faeces is ready to be expelled from the body, the sphincter muscle of the
anus relaxes and the waste is removed from the body.

Role of Liver:

Function of the Liver:

1) Regulation of blood glucose concentration
2) to production of bile
3) Iron storage
4) Protein Synthesis
5) Deamination of excess amino acids
6) Detoxification

Glucose Metabolism:
Glucose and Amino acid utilization in the body:

Transportation and utilization of glucose :

After absorption, the blood in the villi becomes rich in glucose.. It is now
transported to the liver by Hepatic Portal vein.

● In the liver most of the glucose is converted to glycogen(polysaccharide )

and stored. This reaction is done by insulin .
● The amount of the glucose needed for the respiration in the cells of the
body is transported via hepatic vein and leaves the liver, goes to all the
cells.

Transportation and utilization of amino acid :

After absorption Amino acid is transported to the liver, by Hepatic portal vein.
● Required amount of amino acid leaves the liver via hepatic vein.
 ● The extra amino acid will be deaminated to form urea and leave the body
with urine.

Deamination : Removal of amino group from the amino acid is termed

deamination.

The amino group is first converted to ammonia (toxic to cells )

Soon after the ammonia is converted to urea( less toxic to cells). Urea is
transported out of the liver through the blood vessels and eventually excreted out
of the body through the urine.

The rest of the amino acid is converted to glucose and glycogen and stored in
the body.

Functions of liver :

1) Regulation of blood glucose level

2) Production of bile
3) Iron storage
4) Protein synthesis
5) Deamination of amino acid.
 Name the three blood vessels associated with liver .

Write down the components of these three blood vessels .

Hepatic artery : oxygenated blood , some amount of glucose
Hepatic vein : deoxygenated blood , required amount of glucose and
amino acid for the body glucose ,
Hepatic portal vein : (only blood vessel which comes out of one organ and
enters into another organ )
Richest blood vessel of the body to carry digested food .
Glucose , amino acid . water , vitamins and minerals in dissolved form .

Glucose —----> glycogen by insulin

glycogen—------> glucose by glucagon

Why glucose needs to be converted to glycogen .

Why glycogen is a good storage material ?
1) Glycogen is a compact molecule and larger amount can be stored
and it is insoluble in water
2) Glucose is small and soluble so can’t be stored in the cells .
3) Glucose changes the osmotic potential of the cell . Water potential in
the cell decreases and water enters the cell risking the cell to burst.
4) Glycogen is a good storage material , can be converted back to
glucose easily by glucagon as and when needed.
Assimilation :

Difference between Excretion and egestion .

Removal of metabolic wastes …. Excretion

Removal of undigested food . …. Egestion

Excretion involves more than one organ system … excretory , respiratory,

integumentory, digestive system liver
(Bile pigment after break down is excreted through the alimentary canal and it is
excreted with egested material.)
Egestion involves only digestive system

Excretory materials are many … Urine , sweat, exhaled air

Egested material : faeces

Excretory materials are formed in the cells , which had to enter the cells from the
blood .
Egested materials actually never left the alimentary canal and never been
absorbed into the blood .

Cellulose = Polymer of glucose . Polysaccharide

Glucose Test : water bath is applied
Reagent : Benedict’s solution
Initial color : Blue
Positive color : green —--> yellow—---> orange—---> brick red

Starch test :
Reagent : Iodine solution
Initial color : Brown/ orange
Positive color : Blue black

Protein test :
Reagent : Biuret solution (dil sodium hydroxide + Dil Copper sulphate)
Initial color : Blue
Positive color : purple/ Violet (any other related shade )

Fat test (Emulsion test )

Reagent : alcohol
Initial color : transparent
Positive color : cloudy suspension(emulsion)