lec-9

Feeding and Digestion

 What is Digestion

In large animals, including humans, food is first chewed up into pieces small
enough to swallow.
Food enters the gut or alimentary canal. This is a tube running from the mouth to
the anus, in which substances called digestive enzymes break food down into
simple water-soluble chemicals. This process is called digestion. It is also known
as extra-cellular digestion because it takes place outside the cells of the body.
Fig:
 What is absorption and assimilation
The soluble food passes through the walls of the gut into the blood
stream. This is called absorption.
Blood transports digested, soluble food to all parts of the body. The food
enters cells and is transformed into substances which take part in metabolism.
This is called assimilation.

This figure illustrates how the

sequence of events changes
protein in human food into
proteins which make up
human body tissues

Fig:
 Any solid substances in food which cannot be digested (such as plant
fibers) are expelled from the body as faecal matter, or faeces.

 In simple organism such as

Amoeba and other protozoa,
digestion takes place inside a cell;
it is known as intracellular
digestion.
 The sequence of events is
similar to that already described,
except that digestion takes place in
a bubble of liquid called a Food
vacuole inside the cell.

Fig:
 Digestive enzymes

Enzymes are specific. This means that each enzyme is limited to

reactions with only one or very few, types of food substance.
Because of this, digestive enzymes can be divided into groups
according to the foods which they digest.

Amylases: a group of enzymes which break down starchy

foods into sugars such as glucose.

Lipases: a group of enzymes which break down fats and oils

into their component fatty acids and glycerol.

Proteases: are enzymes which break down proteins into their

component amino acids.
An example of commercial use of digestive enzymes

A well known commercial use of digestive enzymes is in ‘biological’

washing powders. These make use of an enzyme’s ability to break down
foods and other substances which commonly stain cloths, into soluble
chemicals. Biological washing powder are useful in removing stains
caused by blood, gravy, egg yolk, chocolate etc.
 Teeth

Fig

Blood Vessel

Sensory nerves
 Teeth anatomy

 Each tooth consists of: a crown, the part above gum level; a

neck, the part surrounded by gum and a root, the part embedded in
bone.

 The crown is the biting surface. It’s outer layer consists of enamel
which is the hardest substance found in animals.

The root and inner portion of the crown consist of a bone-like

substance called dentine, except for a central pulp cavity.

Central pulp cavity contains nerves and blood vessels that supply
the growing tooth with food and oxygen.
Teeth
 The human digestive system

 The human digestive system consists of the alimentary canal and its
associated glands, the salivary glands, the liver and the pancreas.
 The alimentary canal begins at the mouth and ends at the anus.
Between the two opening is the long convoluted tube, organized into
several distinct regions.
 The oesophagus carries food from the mouth to the stomach.
 Beyond the stomach is the small intestine which has three parts: the
duodenum, the jejunum and the ileum.
 The large intestine includes the caecum, the colon and the rectum and
ends at the anus.
The human digestive system
 The digestion in the mouth
 In mammals, food first broken down by the mechanical action of teeth.
 Chewing is the physical process of reducing food to small particles.
 Saliva lubricates and softens the food.
 Human produce about 1.5 L of saliva daily. Saliva is mainly water (99.5%) with some
dissolved substances (0.5%) including:
i) mineral salts (phosphates and hydrogen carbonates)
ii) salivary amylase (a starch-splitting enzyme which breaks molecules of
starch into maltose sugars.
iii) mucin (a slimy, glycoprotein lubricant)
iv) lysozyme (an enzyme that kills bacteria)
 Functions of saliva
1. The water and mucin in saliva moisten, soften and lubricate dry food so that it is
more easily chewed and swallowed.
2. The enzyme salivary amylase breaks down starch into soluble sugar maltose. This
reaction is first stage of carbohydrate digestion.
 Functions of saliva
3. Lysozyme help to remove carbohydrate food and bacteria from between the teeth
and thus help to prevent tooth decay.
4. Saliva moistens the mouth, tongue and lips which facilitates talking.
5. Bicarbonate in saliva acts as a buffer. This helps prevent tooth decay by reducing
the strength of mouth acids that dissolve the tooth enamel.
Food leaves the mouth when we swallow.

Peristalsis
 Food is moved along the intestine by wave like muscular contractions known as
peristalsis.
 These contractions start as soon as food enters the oesophagus. Circular
muscles in the oesophagus wall contract immediately behind the bolus (food rolled
into a ball) pushing it towards the stomach.
 Movement of food is assisted first by the lubricating action of salivary mucin and
then by mucus, a similar substance produced by the intestine wall.
Peristalsis
 The digestion in the stomach
 Once food is in the stomach, the circular muscles in its wall begin wavelike
contractions similar to peristalsis which pass down the stomach from the
oesophagus end about three times a minute.
 These contractions have the important effect of churning up food and mixing it
thoroughly with a substance called gastric juice, secreted by the gastric glands in
the stomach lining.
 Gastric juice:
Adult humans produce about 3 L of gastric juice daily. It consist of the
following substances:
Hydrochloric acid is produced to create the acid conditions necessary
for the action of gastric enzymes.
Protease is produced to begin the digestion of proteins in food; it
requires the acid conditions created by hydrochloric acid to do this.
 Digestion and absorption in the small intestine

 Digestion in the duodenum

 The duodenum receives bile through the bile duct from the gall bladder in the
liver. It also receives pancreatic juice through the pancreatic duct from the
pancreas.
Bile is a greenish yellow liquid which is manufactured in the liver partly
from substances resulting from the breakdown of old red blood cells.
Bile is stored in the gall bladder and is released whenever food enters
the duodenum.
Bile contains:

1. bile pigments
2. organic bile salts
3. inorganic substances of which sodium bicarbonate is the most
important.
 Organic bile salts react with fat soluble vitamins (i.e. A,D and K) and
cholesterol, an important constituent of cell membranes. This makes them
water soluble and therefore, easier the intestine to absorb.
 Bile salts assist in the digestion of fats and oils in two ways:
a) First their action on fat disintegrate them into a mass of tiny oil
droplets called an emulsion.
b) activate the fat-digesting enzymes, lipases, produced by the
pancreas and small intestine wall.
Sodium bicarbonate in bile is extremely important because it
neutralizes stomach acid and creates an alkaline medium which is necessary
for efficient functioning of all enzymes in the small intestine.

Pancreatic juice
 It is produced by the pancreas, colorless and contains NaHCO3 which
makes it alkaline.
 It contains a protease enzyme which continues the digestion of proteins.
 It also contains an amylase enzyme similar to the amylase in saliva.
 It also contains a lipase enzyme which breaks down fats and oils to fatty
acids and glycerol.
 Digestion in the ileum
 Within the ileum all digestive processes are completed and the soluble products
are absorbed into the blood stream. The ileum is therefore both a digestive and
absorptive organ.
 Intestinal juice is secreted by the glands of duodenum and ileum walls.
 It contains several more proteases which complete the breakdown of proteins.
 In addition, there are three amylases which complete the breakdown of
carbohydrate foods to glucose.
 Lipase enzymes which continue the breakdown of fats and oils to fatty acids
and glycerol.

Absorption in the duodenum and ileum

 All soluble substances including amino acids, glycerol, glucose, vitamins etc
are absorbed into the blood stream through the duodenum and ileum walls.
 The whole ileum internal surface is covered by finger-like projections called villi
(singular villus).
The presence of villi gives the ileum a far greater internal surface area available
for absorption. In general, the soluble foods (amino acids, sugars fats etc.) pass
into the blood capillaries of the villi.
 Functions of the large intestine

 The large intestine consists of the colon, rectum and anus.

 The colon receives indigestible material from the ileum. This material
consists of fibers, cellulose, bacteria, dead cells dislodged by friction from the
intestine walls, mucus and considerable quantities of water.
 It remains in the colon for some time during which most of the water and salt
are absorbed from it.
 The semi solid residue, called feces, is lubricated by mucus and periodically
ejected from the body via rectum and through the anus.
 Caecum and appendix
At the point where the ileum joins the colon there is a tube called the
caecum and a sac called the appendix. In human these organs have no
function.
 Digestion in the stomach, small intestine and large intestine

Fig