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Motility
Motility is the muscular contractions that mix and move forward the entire
contents of the digestive tract.
The smooth muscle in the walls of the digestive tract maintain a constant low
level of contraction (tone) which is important in maintaining a steady pressure of
the contents of the digestive tract as well as in preventing its walls from
remaining permanently stretched following distension.
As well as tone there are 2 other types of digestive motility – propulsive
movements and mixing movements.
Propulsive movements push the contents through the digestive tract at varying
speeds depending on the different regions of the gut.
Mixing movements mix the food with the digestive juices and facilitate absorption
by exposing all portions of the intestinal contents to the absorbing surfaces of the
digestive tract.
Motility of the smooth muscle is controlled by involuntary mechanisms.
Secretion
A number of digestive juices are secreted into the digestive tract lumen by
exocrine glands located along the route.
Each digestive secretion consists of water, electrolytes and specific organic
constituents like enzymes, bile salts or mucus.
Secretion requires energy for active transport of some of the raw materials into
the cell and for synthesis of secretory products by the endoplasmic reticulum.
Normally the digestive secretions are reabsorbed back into the blood.
Digestion
Digestion is the biochemical breakdown of the structurally complex foodstuffs of
the diet into smaller, absorbable units by the enzymes produced within the
digestive system.
Carbohydrate digestion - simplest form is monosaccharides such as glucose,
fructose and galactose which is what complex
carbohydrates must be broken down into to be
absorbed.
- polysaccharides (starch and glycogen) are acted on by
amylase enzymes and broken down to disaccharides.
- these disaccharides are further broken down into
monosaccharides by the appropriate enzymes.
e.g. sucrose is broken down by sucrase, lactose is
broken down by lactase.
Protein digestion - proteins are degraded primarily into their constituent amino
acids as well as a few small polypeptides which can then be
absorbed by the gut.
- proteins are broken down by enzymes such as pepsin and
trypsin.
Fat digestion - most dietary fat is in the form of triglycerides, which are made up
of glycerol and 3 fatty acids molecules.
- during digestion 2 of the fatty acid molecules are split off, leaving
a monoglyceride (a glycerol molecule with 1 fatty acid attached)
- these monoglycerides and fatty acids can then be absorbed.
Absorption
Takes place in the small intestine, mainly in the duodenum and jejunum.
The small intestine has many adaptations to aid absorption
The inner surface of the small intestine has circular folds that are visible to the
naked eye and increase the surface area threefold.
Villi project from the folded surface and increase the surface area by another
tenfold.
Each villi is covered by epithelial cells with the occasional mucus cell.
Microvilli project of the villi increasing the surface area by another 20-fold.
Reference:
Sherwood