WEEK ONE
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
FEEDING IN HYDRA
Hydra feeds on small aquatic organisms e.g. crustaceans. It captures its food through its
structure called nematocysts found on its tentacles. The food is then passed into the mouth
while the digestive enzymes are secreted into the enteron by the gland cells. The digestion is
extracellular and the digested food is absorbed into the body while the undigested food is sent
back into the enteron and released through the mouth. The digestion here is therefore
intracellular and extracellular.
DIGESTION IN FLATWORM [TAPEWORM & PLANARIA]
Tapeworm is a parasitic worm which has no alimentary canal; it feeds on digested food of the
host. However, the planarian is a free-living flatworm which feeds on small animals. Planaria
has a simple alimentary canal with one opening i.e. the mouth present in the ventral part of its
body cavity. The pharynx of the planarian can be extended out of the mouth during feeding.
The pumping action of the pharynx sucks in pieces of food which enter the pharynx and
move into the small intestine. Digestion is partly extracellular and partly intracellular. The
branched intestine enables the digested food to diffuse to all parts of the body while
undigested food is egested through the mouth.
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DIGESTION IN EARTHWORM
The alimentary canal of the earthworm is a tube with two openings:
1. The mouth through which the food enters
2. The anus through which the undigested food leaves the body
The alimentary canal of the earthworm has the following parts:
Mouth and thin-walled buccal cavity for food ingestion
A muscular thin-walled pharynx which secretes mucus to lubricate
food particles
A narrow tubular thin-walled oesophagus
A thin-walled crop for storing food
A thin-walled muscular gizzard where food is ground against small
stones to break it up.
A long straight intestine in which extracellular digestion occurs.
MECHANISM OF DIGESTION IN EARTHWORM
The prostomium is the mouth of the earthworm. Since it has no jaws or teeth, the earthworm
uses its muscular pharynx to suck in soil containing food. The food particles and soil go
through a long oesophagus into a round organ called a crop. The crop stores the food
temporarily. Then it is forced into a very muscular organ called the gizzard. The gizzard
contracts and expands, causing grains of sand and food to rub together. In this way, the food
is ground up. Food is digested in the intestine, which stretches from segment nineteen to the
end of the worm. Here enzymes chemically break down the food. Then the digested food is
absorbed by the blood circulating through the intestinal walls. The earthworm’s digestive
system can be thought of as a tube within a tube.
The useless inorganic matter goes through the worm with no change. This is often left on the
surface of the ground in the form of castings.
DIGESTION IN INSECTS
The alimentary canals of insects consist of three major parts:
The foregut [mouth, pharynx, oesophagus crop, gizzard]
Mid gut [stomach]
Hind gut [intestine, ileum, colon, rectum, anus]
Insects such as grasshoppers feed on leaves. They use their mouthparts to cut and crush the
leaves. Saliva is introduced or poured into the leaves from the salivary gland. The saliva
helps to soften the leaves and the chewed food is in the crop and broken up further into small
pieces.
The foregut and the midgut secrete enzymes rich juice into the midgut where digestion and
absorption occurs.
The hindgut is for water absorption. Only solid faeces pellets are egested from the anus after
the food waste has been collected through the malpighian tubules joining the mid and
hindgut.
DIGESTION IN BIRD
Birds do not have teeth but horny beak which they use for feeding. In many birds, the feet
also show adaptation for feeding.
The alimentary canal of the bird consists of the following:
1. Oesophagus 2. Crop 3.Proventriculus 4. Gizzard 5. Small
intestine 6. Caeca 7. Cloaca
MECHANISM OF DIGESTION IN BIRDS
The bird swallows their food whole and store in the crop. In the crop, it is softened by
secretion from the wall of the crop. It is then through the proventriculus to the gizzard where
gastric juice churns the food and breaks it up into smaller units. This is preceded by the
grinding action of the muscles of the gizzard [a strong muscular bag]. Small stones in the
gizzard also assists in the grinding of the food. The digestion is completed in the small
intestine by the action of intestinal and pancreatic juice. The absorption also occurs here and
the solid waste passed through the anus into the cloaca.
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM AND DIGESTION IN MAN
Heterotrophic organisms get their food from their autotrophic counterparts or depend on other
heterotrophic organisms.
The food is taken in (ingestion), broken down into simple, soluble and diffusible substances
through some chemical and mechanical processes. This is referred to as digestion. The
digested food is eventually absorbed (absorption) into the body fluids and assimilated while
the undigested food is removed (egested)
FEEDING AND DIGESTION MECHANISMS
A digestive system is made up of alimentary canal and the associated glands and organs
which produce some of the enzymes-rich secretions that bring about digestion.
The action of the teeth is the mechanical breakdown of digestion while the digestive
enzymes speed up the chemical digestion.
DIGESTION OF FOOD IN HUMANS
Food passes through the following process in man
Ingestion →Digestion →Absorption →Assimilation →Egestion
Food is ingested in the mouth, the teeth grind the food into smaller units, chemical digestion
also begins. Saliva contains an enzyme, ptyalin that acts on cooked starch to convert it to
complex sugar (maltose). Saliva is a watery, slightly alkaline substance secreted by the
salivary gland.
The tongue mixes the food with saliva and rolls it into a ball (bolus) which is then swallowed.
The food passes down into the stomach through the gullet (oesophagus). During swallowing
of food, the entrance to the trachea must be closed to prevent choking. The wall of the
oesophagus is muscular and it contracts and relaxes to push each bolus of food downward,
this process is called peristalsis.
DIGESTION IN THE STOMACH
The gastric juice mixes with the food. Gastric juice contains two important enzymes; pepsin
and rennin as well as hydrochloric acid for activating pepsinogen into pepsin. Pepsin digests
protein into peptones and polypeptides which are intermediate products in protein digestion.
Pepsin works best in acidic medium and the acid also assists to kill the bacteria present in
food. Rennin causes the coagulation of milk into thick curd (convert soluble caseinogens to
insoluble casein). Food stays in the stomach for about 3-4 hours.
DIGESTION IN THE SMALL INTESTINE
The first part of the small intestine is duodenum; the pancreas secretes pancreatic juice which
contains digestive enzymes. The liver produces bile, which is stored in the gall bladder. Bile
is a greenish liquid that emulsifies fat, which does not contain digestive enzymes.
The pancreatic juice contains three important enzymes:
amylopsin converts starch to maltose
Trypsin converts protein to polypeptides
Lipase converts Lipids to fatty acids and glycerol
The latter part of the small intestine is the ileum. Here the wall of the intestine secretes five
important enzymes:
maltase – converts maltose to glucose + glucose
Sucrase – converts sucrose to glucose + fructose
Lactase – converts lactose to glucose + galactose
Erepsin – converts polypeptides to amino acids
Lipase – converts fats and oil to fatty acids and glycerol
In man, the digestion of food ends in the small intestine. Hence the end product of protein is
amino acids, fats and oil is fatty acid and glycerol while that of starch are glucose, fructose
and galactose.
ABSORPTION AND ASSIMILATION
Glucose, amino acids, fatty or carboxylic acids and glycerol, as well as vitamins and mineral
salts, are absorbed in the small intestine. For efficient absorption, a large surface area is
needed. To ensure this, the wall of the small intestine has folds and furrows. Also, there are
finger-like projections called villi (Villus). The inner surface layer (epithelium) of each villus
is thin. This allows the absorption of the end products of digestion which takes place by
either diffusion or active transport. The absorbed food substances are carried away through
the blood vessels and lymphatic vessels (containing blood and lymph respectively).
In each villus, there is a blind lymphatic tube called lacteal which transport fatty acid
(carboxylic acid) and glycerol. Excess fats are stored in fat cells to form adipose tissues
which are usually found under the skin and around organs.
DENTITION
Dentition is the arrangement of teeth in the mouth
TYPES OF MAMMALIAN TEETH
1. Incisors: the front teeth used for biting off small pieces of food. Chisel
shaped.
2. Canine: used for tearing off food. E.g. flesh from bone. Usually long
and pointed.
3. Premolars: flat topped with broad surfaces for grinding food.
4. Molars: like premolars. They are absent in the milk teeth of young
mammals. They also have broad surfaces and are used for crushing food.
Dentition of a herbivore:
Dental formula: I 2/1, c0/0, pm 3/2, m 3/3
Adaptations:
1. Incisors are sharp for cutting grass.
2. Canines absent leaving a space (diastema).
3. Diastema allows for mixing of food.
4. Molars and premolars have transverse ridges for grinding food
Dentition of a carnivore:
Dental formula: I 3/3, c1/1, pm 4/4, m 2/3
Adaptation:
1. Sharp incisors for catching and holding prey.
2. Long pointed and curved canines for attacking and holding prey.
Molars and premolars have pointed cusps for crushing bones.
The dentition of an omnivore:
Dental formula: I 2/2, c 1/1, pm 2/2, m 3/3
Adaptation:
1. Sharp incisors for cutting food.
2. Premolar and molars have broad surfaces for grinding food.
Note that human teeth are not all that specialized as they are used for
various plant and animal food materials.
