Human Anatomy and Physiology 2 - Class 38 (4/17/2013)

(Biology Department, Northeastern University)

The following will be an extra credit question on final exam:
Chemical Digestion and Absorption
Most of the digestible carbohydrate is starch; cellulose is indigestible.
1. Starch is digested down by salivary amylase and pancreatic amylase by hydrolysis to
oligosaccharides. Oligosaccharides are digested down to 3 different types of dietary
disaccharides. Disaccharides are broken down to monosaccharides, mostly glucose, by the
brush border enzymes in the microvilli (contact digestion).
2. The plasma membrane of absorptive cells in small intestine contains transport proteins
that absorb monosaccharides. Glucose is taken into apical or luminal side of epithelial cell
by a sodiumglucose transport protein (SGLT) (a symport) like that of the kidney tubules.
Indirect use of sodium gradient created by Na+-K+ pumps draws in water from the lumen of
the intestine through the now-leaky tight junctions. Water carries glucose and other
nutrients along by solvent drag. Glucose and other monosaccharides are transported out of
the base of the cell by facilitated diffusion and absorbed by blood capillaries then delivered
to the liver by the hepatic portal system.
Enzymes that digest proteins are called proteases (peptidases).
1. In the stomach, pepsin hydrolyzes peptide bonds breaking some of dietary protein into
shorter polypeptides and some free amino acids.
In the small intestine, trypsin and chymotrypsin from the pancreatic enzymes continue
hydrolysis creating shorter oligopeptides. Shorter oligopeptides are then broken down into
amino acids by three more enzymes including two brush border enzymes.
2. Amino acid absorption is similar to that of monosaccharides. Several sodium-dependent
amino acid cotransporters carry different classes of amino acids across the membrane. At
the basal surfaces, amino acids leave the cell by facilitated diffusion, enter the capillaries,
and are carried away in the hepatic portal circulation.
The hydrophobic quality of lipids means digestion and absorption of lipids is more complex than
that of carbohydrates and proteins.
1. As it enters the duodenum, fat in chyme is in large globules. It is broken up into smaller
emulsification droplets by components of bile.
Fats are chemically digested by enzymes called lipases. Most fat digestion occurs in the
small intestine through the action of pancreatic lipase. Lipase acts on droplets hydrolyzing
triglyceride into two free fatty acids and a monoglyceride (glycerol and one fatty acid).
2. Absorption of fatty acids, monoglycerides, and other lipids depends on minute (or tiny)
droplets in the bile called micelles. Micelles consist of bile acid molecules aggregated with
hydrophilic side groups facing outward and hydrophobic steroid rings facing inward. Bile
phospholipids and cholesterol diffuse into the center of the micelles to form micelle core.

The micelles pass down the bile duct into the duodenum, where they absorb fat-soluble
vitamins, more cholesterol, and the products of fat digestion: monoglycerides and fatty
acids. Their hydrophilic surfaces allow them to remain suspended in water.
The micelles transport lipid soluble materials to the surfaces of the intestinal absorptive
cells, where the lipids leave the micelles and diffuse into the cells. Micelles are not
absorbed and are reused.
Within the intestinal cell, FFAs and monoglycerides are transported into the smooth
endoplasmic reticulum and resynthesized into triglycerides. The Golgi complex combines
these triglycerides with a small amount of cholesterol and coats the complex with a film of
phospholipids and protein to form droplets called chylomicrons. It packages chylomicrons
into secretory vesicles that move to the basal surface of the cell and are released into the
core of the villus.
Chylomicrons are too large to enter the endothelium of blood capillaries and are instead
picked up by the more porous lacteals and into the lymph, which later enters the blood.
Later, chylomicrons transport triglycerides to adipose cells.