DIGESTIVE

SYSTEM

Diadem L. Cruz
DIVISIONS OF
THE
DIGESTIVE
SYSTEM
• Alimentary tube
• Accessory organs

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 TYPES OF DIGESTION
Mechanical digestion
• The physical breaking up of food into smaller
pieces.
• Example: Chewing
Chemical digestion
• The digestive enzymes break down the food
particles, in which complex chemical
molecules are changed into much simpler
chemicals that the body can utilize.
• Example: protein-digesting enzymes

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 ORAL CAVITY
Teeth
• Function: chewing - mechanically breaks
food into smaller pieces and mixes it with
saliva.
• An individual develops two sets of teeth:
deciduous ( 6 months; 20 set of teeth at 2
y/o) and permanent (Molars = 6 y/o; 32
complete set of teeth with incisors, canines,
premolars and molars).

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 ORAL CAVITY
Teeth
• Function: chewing - mechanically breaks
food into smaller pieces and mixes it with
saliva.
• An individual develops two sets of teeth:
deciduous ( 6 months; 20 set of teeth at 2
y/o) and permanent (Molars = 6 y/o; 32
complete set of teeth with incisors, canines,
premolars and molars).

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 ORAL CAVITY
Tongue
• Skeletal muscle innervated by the
12 cranial nerve (hypoglossal)
• Papillae – contains taste buds
• Efficient for chewing
• Elevation of tongue – first step of
swallowing

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 ORAL CAVITY
Salivary gland
• Saliva – digestive secretion
• Parasympathetic response – Sight
and smell of the food increases
the saliva production
• Sympathetic response –
decreases saliva in stress situation
• Made of water, salivary amylase,
and blood plasma
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 PHARYNX

• Oropharynx and laryngopharynx

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 ESOPHAGUS
• Muscular tube that takes the food
from the pharynx to the stomach
• Peristalsis – propels food in one
direction
• Lower esophageal sphincter –
permit food to enter stomach,
contracts to prevent backup of food
• Heart burn or Gastroesophageal
reflux disease (GERD) -stomach acid
will touch the esophagus
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 STRUCTURAL LAYERS
OF THE ALIMENTARY TUBE
Mucosa
• Lining of the alimentary tube
• Epithelial tissue (secretes mucus
and digestive enzymes)
• Areolar connective tissue (below
is a lymph nodule)
• Two layers of smooth muscle
(folds of mucosa and ripples for
absorption)
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 STRUCTURAL LAYERS
OF THE ALIMENTARY TUBE
Submucosa
• Made of areolar connective tissue
• Many millions of nerve fibers are
also present, part of what is called
the enteric nervous system, or the
“brain of the gut - Meissner’s plexus
(or submucosal plexus)
• Sensory neurons to regulate vessel
diameter and blood flow.
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 STRUCTURAL LAYERS
OF THE ALIMENTARY TUBE
External muscle layer
• Two layers of smooth muscle - an
inner, circular layer and an outer,
longitudinal layer.
• Auerbach’s plexus (or myenteric
plexus) – autonomic
• Sympathetic impulses decrease
contractions and peristalsis
• Parasympathetic impulses increase
contractions and peristalsis
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 STRUCTURAL LAYERS
OF THE ALIMENTARY TUBE
Serosa
• the mesentery or visceral
peritoneum.
• Lining the abdominal cavity is the
parietal peritoneum - peritoneum.
• Serous fluid - prevents friction when
the alimentary tube contracts and
the organs slide against one another.

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 STOMACH
• located in the upper left quadrant of
the abdominal cavity, to the left of
the liver and in front of the spleen.
• Reservoir of food
• Cardiac orifice – opening
• Fundus – above the level of the
opening
• Pylorus – adjacent to the duodenum
of the small intestine
• Pyloric sphincter –surrounds the
junction
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 STOMACH
• Gastric pits – glands of the stomach
consist of gastric juices
• Mucus cells – mucus coats stomach
lining and helps prevent erosion
• Chief cells secrete pepsinogen
• Parietal cells produce HCl - these cells
have enzymes called proton pumps,
which secrete H+ ions into the stomach
cavity unite with Cl ions
• Presence of food in the stomach causes
the G cells to secrete gastrin, a
hormone that stimulates the secretion
of greater amounts of gastric juice.

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 SMALL INTESTINE
• Duodenum - the first 10 inches (25 cm)
of the small intestine. The common bile
duct enters the duodenum at the
ampulla of Vater (or hepatopancreatic
ampulla).
• Jejunum (about 8 feet long)
• IIeum (about 11 feet in length)
• Digestion is completed in small intestine
• Peyer’s patches (lymph nodules)

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LIVER
• Consists of two large lobes, right and
left, and fills the upper right and
center of the abdominal cavity, just
below the diaphragm.
• The structural unit of the liver is the
liver lobule, a roughly hexagonal
column of liver cells (hepatocytes).
• The capillaries of a lobule are
sinusoids, large and very permeable
vessels between the rows of liver cells.

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 LIVER
Sinusoids
• receive blood from both the hepatic
artery and portal vein, and it is with this
mixture of blood that the liver cells carry
out their functions.
Hepatic artery
• brings oxygenated blood, and the portal
vein brings blood from the digestive
organs and spleen
Central veins of all the lobules
• unite to form the hepatic veins, which
take blood out of the liver to the inferior
vena cava.
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 LIVER
Bile
• mostly water and has an excretory
function in that it carries bilirubin and
excess cholesterol to the intestines for
elimination in feces.
Bile salts
• Emulsify fats in the small intestine.
• More surface area to facilitate
chemical digestion
Secretin
• Stimulates the production of bile is
• Produced by the duodenum when food
enters the small intestine
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 GALLBLADDER
• A sac about 3 to 4 inches long located
on the undersurface of the right lobe of
the liver.
• Bile in the hepatic duct of the liver flows
through the cystic duct into the
gallbladder, which stores bile
• When fatty foods enter the duodenum,
the enteroendocrine cells of the
duodenal mucosa secrete the hormone
cholecystokinin – stimulates the
gallbladder, which forces bile into the
cystic duct, then into the common bile
duct, and on into the duodenum.
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 PANCREAS
• Located in the upper left abdominal quadrant
between the curve of the duodenum and the
spleen
• The exocrine glands of the pancreas are
called acini
• Amylase - digests starch to maltose.
• Lipase - converts emulsified fats to fatty acids
and glycerol. The emulsifying or fat-separating
action of bile salts increases the surface area
of fats so that lipase works effectively.
• Trypsinogen - an inactive enzyme that is
changed to active trypsin in the duodenum.
• Trypsin - digests polypeptides to shorter
chains of amino acids.
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PANCREAS
• The pancreas also produces a
bicarbonate juice (containing sodium
bicarbonate), which is alkaline.
• Secretin stimulates the production of
bicarbonate juice by the pancreas
• Cholecystokinin stimulates the
secretion of the pancreatic enzymes

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LARGE INTESTINES (Colon)
• It extends from the ileum of the small
intestine to the anus, the terminal
opening.
• The cecum is the first portion, and at
its junction with the ileum is the
ileocecal valve
• After undigested food (cellulose) and
water pass from the ileum into the
cecum, closure of the ileocecal valve
prevents the backflow of fecal
material.
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 LARGE INTESTINES (Colon)
• Attached to the cecum is the appendix,
a small, dead-end tube with abundant
lymphatic tissue.
• The remainder of the colon consists of
the ascending, transverse, and
descending colon, which encircle the
small intestine; the sigmoid colon, which
turns medially and downward; the
rectum; and the anal canal.
• The longitudinal smooth muscle layer of
the colon is in three bands called taeniae
coli.
• This gives the colon a puckered
appearance; the puckers or pockets are
called haustra
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LARGE INTESTINES (Colon)

Functions
• absorption of water, minerals, and
vitamins and the elimination of
undigestible material.
• About 80% of the water that enters
the colon is absorbed (400 to 800 mL
per day).

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thank you