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DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION OF CARBOHYDRATES
Most carbohydrates are ingested as starch, which is a long polysaccharide of
glucose in the form of straight chains with occasional branchings. The most
commonly ingested sugars are sucrose (table sugar, a disaccharide of glucose and
fructose) and lactose (milk sugar, a disaccharide of glucose and galactose). The
digestion of starch begins in the mouth with the action of salivary amylase. This
enzyme cleaves some of the bonds between adjacent glucose molecules. The
digestive action of salivary amylase stops sometime after the swallowed bolus
enters the stomach because this enzyme is inactivated at the low pH of gastric
juice. The digestion of starch, therefore, occurs mainly in the duodenum as a
result of the action of pancreatic amylase.
This enzyme cleaves the straight chains of starch to produce the disaccharide
maltose and the trisaccharide maltriose. Pancreatic amylase, however, cannot
hydrolyze the bond between glucose molecules at the branch points in the starch.
As a result, short, branched chains of glucose molecules, called oligosaccharides,
are released together with maltose and maltriose by the activity of this
enzyme .Maltose, maltriose, and oligosaccharides are hydrolyzed to their
monosaccharides by brush border enzymes located on the microvilli of the
epithelial cells in the small intestine. The brush border enzymes also hydrolyze the
disaccharides sucrose and lactose into their component monosaccharides. These
monosaccharides are then moved across the epithelial cell membrane by
secondary active transport, in which the glucose shares a common membrane
carrier with Na +. There is also evidence that glucose may move passively (by
facilitative diffusion) across the apical plasma membrane of the intestinal
epithelium when the glucose concentration in the intestinal lumen is high (after a
carbohydrate meal). Finally, glucose leaves the epithelial cells by facilitative
diffusion and enters the interstitial fluid, from which it diffuses into nearby blood
capillaries within the intestinal villi.
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DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION OF PROTEINS
A large part of protein digestion takes place in the stomach. The enzyme pepsin
plays an important role in the digestion of proteins by breaking down the intact
protein to peptides, which are short chains of four to nine amino acids. In the
duodenum, other enzymes— trypsin, elastase, and chymotrypsin—act on the
peptides reducing them to smaller peptides. Trypsin elastase, carboxypeptidase,
and chymotrypsin are produced by the pancreas and released into the duodenum
where they act on the chyme. Further breakdown of peptides to single amino
acids is aided by enzymes called peptidases (those that break down peptides).
Specifically, carboxypeptidase, dipeptidase, and aminopeptidase play important
roles in reducing the peptides to free amino acids. The amino acids are absorbed
into the bloodstream through the small intestines. The steps in protein digestion
are summarized in the table below;
Enzyme Produced Site of Substrate End
by Action Acting on Products
Pepsin Stomach Stomach Proteins Peptides
Chief Cells
Trypsin Pancreas Small Proteins Peptides
Elastase intestines
Chymotrypsin
Carboxypeptidase Pancreas Small Peptides Amino
intestines acids and
peptides
Aminopeptidase Lining of Small Peptides Amino
Dipeptidase intestines intestines acids
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DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION OF LIPIDS
The salivary glands and stomach of neonates (newborns) produce lipases. In
adults, however, very little lipid digestion occurs until the lipid globules in chyme
arrive in the duodenum. the arrival of lipids (primarily triglyceride, or fat) in the
duodenum serves as a stimulus for the secretion of bile. In a process called
emulsification, bile salt micelles are secreted into the duodenum and act as
detergents to break up the fat droplets into tiny emulsification droplets of
triglycerides.