DIGESTION

Review

Feeding patterns
Suspension

feeding Feeding on particulate matter Fluid feeding Surface nutrient absorption

Digestion
Intracellular Extracellular

Why a digestive tract?

Allow efficient extracellular digestion Disadvantages of intracellular digestion:

Limits size of prey Lack of capacity for digestive specialization Difficult to seperate spatially different digestive processes Larger prey items Digestion of food into chemical subunits allows complete specialization of cellular function Digestive processes is seperated spatially and temporally One way flow of food through digestive tract (mouth and anus) in higher animals

Advantages of extracellular digestion:

Digestion

3 important functions of midgut:

Mechanical

breakdown Chemical breakdown

Enzymatic

and Acidic

Absorption

Mechanical Breakdown

Process by which food is physically broken down into small pieces

This increase surface area of food for chemical breakdown

In vertebrates achieved by powerful muscles of stomach wall

Works together with HCL and pepsin to produce liquid chyme

In some herbivores stomach cant mechanically breakdown all the food. Why?

They regurgitate the food for further mastication

Many birds have gizzards strong muscular organ with rough interior surface to grind food , often together with stones that are swallowed
Many

invertebrates also have a gizzard like organ

Chemical Breakdown

Reduce food particles into chemical constituents

Monosaccharides,

amino acids, fatty acids

Either by high acidity or by digestive enzymes 3 main enzyme categories

Proteases Carbohydrates Esterases

Enzymes released into gut via ducts of exocrine glands Enzymes produced by endoplasmic reticulum in small vessicles
The

vessicles break off and concentrate in the golgi complex and is then released to accumulate at the apical surface of the cell
From

here it is released and transported to gut lumen by one of three mechanisms:

1.

By merocrine secretion
Enzymes are released through apical cell membrane with cell membrane and cytoplasm staying intact

The membrane of the transport vessicle fuse with the cell membrane to release its contents

2.

Apocrine secretion
Apical portion of the cell is pinched off and disintigrates to release enzymes

3.

Holocrine
Entire secretory cell disintigrates releasing the enzymes

Absorption

4 aspects of absorption:
Physical

movemenof nutrient molecules from gut lumen to the wall of the gut tube Maximizing epithelial cell area for absorption Mechanism for transport of nutrient molecules across cell membrane Transport of the molecule out of the epithelial cell into the extracellular body fluids (blood or lymph)

Digestive Systems

Protozoans

Autotrophic, saprozoic, or heterotrophic Looking at cilliate protozoa as example:

Food is directed by cilliary action to cytostome Cytostome opens into cytopharynx Cell membrane lining the cytopharynx enlarge and pinch off food containing vacuoles Food vacuole moves through cytoplasm Excess water is removed from vacuole Contents of vacuole is acidified and then made alkaline and then digestive enzymes are added Food particles is digested, nutrients absorbed and waste excreted via cytopyge

Bivalve Mollusks

E.g. Lamellibranchs Suspension feed and ingest small food particles Make use of both extracellular and intracellular digestion Digestive tract has short esophagus opening into stomach, midgut, hindgut, and rectum Stomach contain crystaline style, gastric shield, and a ciliated , diverticulated region Digestive diverticula are blind ended sacs

With absorptive and intracellular digestive function

Midgut, hindgut, and rectum has absorptive and extracellular digestive function

Food is drawn into the stomach and is mechanically reduced by mortar-and-pestle action of the rotating crystaline style

Style gets smaller as a result of friction but forms again after feeding session

Smaller particles is sorted into sizes by stomach, and mixed with enzymes secreted from style and gastric shield Smallest particles sorted by stomach move into digestive diverticula for intracellular digestion Absorptioin takes place in the diverticula Stomach empties into the midgut

Insects

Food is masticated by mandibles and maxillae and passed into bucal cavity and then via esophagus to crop Saliva is added during mastication
2

functions:

Amylase

to start digestion of starch, this continues in crop Saliva moistens food to lubricate it for movemnet through digestive tract

Carbohydrases, proteases, lipases are secreted by midgut and regurgitated into crop

Food is slowly passed from crop through gizzard

Particles

are mechanically reduced and the particles are size sorted Large particles return to crop Small particles pass to midgut and enter hepatic cecae where extracelllar digestion is completed

Water and ion reabsorption occur in rectum and sollid fecal pellets are produced

Vertebrates

Highly specialized in structure and function Stomach can be highly modified depending on the food type Stomach main functions:
Storage Acid/Enzymatic

digestion Fermentation (only in ruminanats and pseudoruminants)

Small intestine of primitive vertebrates:

Mainly

digestion and enzyme production

Small intestine of higher vertebrates:

Mainly

absorption

3 glandular systems:
Salivary

glands lubrication and amylase Liver, gallblader and bile duct bile for emulsification of fats Pancreas and pancreatic duct pancreatic juice for enzymes

Digestive system control

3 ways:

Local regulation by contents of gut

Presence of certain foods in stomach and the mechanical action of the stomach initiates local nervous response that leads to secretion of gastrin Gastrin aid in release of HCl & pepsinogen and increase contraction of stomach wall helps with emptyin of stomach into small intestine

Neural innervation of gut from higher brain

E.g saliva secretion (Pavlov experiments)

Hormonal regulation
Not important Only some enzymes in small intestine