THE

DISGESTIVE
SYSTEM
By second group
THE DISGESTIVE SYSTEM
 Digestive Processes

(Graff & Rhees, 2001).

The digestive system (gut) is a tube that goes from the mouth through the chest and
abdomen to the back passage (anus). It is devided into several section, each of which
has a specialised function. Two other organs are closery involved in digestion, the liver
and pancreas. They are attached to the gut by small tubes. These tubes carry the blie
and enzymes made by the liver and pancreas to mix with food and break it into particles
that can be absorbed.
The food we eat is utilized at the cellular level in chemical reactions involving : synthesis
of proteins, carbohydrates, hormones, and enzymes, cellular division, growth, and repair,
and production of heat.To become usable by the cells, most food must first be
mechanically and chemically reduced to forms that can be absorbed through the
intestinal wall and transported to the cells by the blood
 The processes involved with digestion include :
Ingestion
1 Taking food into the mouth (mechanical
process)
Mastication
2 Chewing food (mechanical process)
Salivary action (chemical process)
Deglutition
3 Swallowing (mechanical process)
Peristaltis
Wavelike contractions that move food
4 through the GI tract (mechanical
process)
Absorption
Passage of food molecules from the GI
5 tract into the circulatory or lymphatic
system (mechanical and chemical
process)
Defecation
6 Elimination of undigestible wastes
(mechanical process)
 “The digestive system can be divided into a tubular
gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) and accessory digestive
organs.The GI tract extends from the oral cavity, pharynx,
esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large
intestine,.The rectum and anal canal are located at the
terminalend of the large intestine.The accessory digestive
organs include the teeth, tongue, salivary glands liver,
gallbladder, and pancreas”
- Graff & Rhees
 Intestinal enzymes and their actions

Pharynx Esophagus Stomach

A muscular tube The stomach receives the bolus
A funnel-shaped
located in the thorax from esophagus, churns bolus
passageway that The larynx behind the trachea with gastric juice to form
connects the oral and
commonly called the that connects the chyme, initiates digestion of
nasal cavity to the
esophagus and voice box, is an organ pharynx to the proteins, carries out limited
trachea. Function is in the top of the neck stomach. Transports absorption, and moves chye
of tetrapods involved bolus to the stomach into duodenum. Specializations
Oral cavity swallowing
in breathing, via peristaltis. of the tunics of the stomach
The oral cavity ingests producing sound, and include: an additional smooth
food, grinds and mixes protecting the trachea muscle layer, the oblique layer,
it with saliva, initiates against food longitudinal folds of the mucosa
digestion of aspiration. The larynx called rugae and gastric glands,
carbohydrates, forms houses the vocal which secrete gastric juice
bolus, swallow bolus folds, and manipulates
pitch and volume,
which is essential for
 STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE GI
TRACT
Small Intestine
The region between stomach
and the large intestine,
approximately 10 feet long. It
receives chyme from the
stomach, bile and pancreatic
secretions from the liver and
pancreas respectively,
chemically and mechanically
break down chyme, absorbs
nutrients, and transports wastes
to the large intestine
The appendix
Large Intestine consisting of lymphatic
tissue, is attached to
Extends from the the cecum.The tunics,
ileocecal valve to the mucosa, and
anus, approx. 5 feet submucosa have
long. It receives sacculations called
wastes from the small haustra, the
intestine, absorbs muscularis cinsists of
water and electrolytes, longitunal bands
forms, stores, and called taeniae coli,
expels feces through and attached to the
defecation adventitia are fat-filled
pouches called
epiploic appendages
Mount (Oral Cavity)

• Insicors (4 upper, 4 Moves food around mouth

lower) for cutting and
during mastication, assists in
shearing food
swallowing, formation of
• Canines (2 upper, 2
speech sounds, location of
lower) for holding and
tearing taste buds.
• Premolars (4 upper, 4
lower) and Molars (6
upper, 6 lower) both for
crushing and grinding
food.

• Parotid gland: located over Roof of the oral cavity

the masseter muscle.
• Submandibular gland:
inferior to the base of the
tongue.
• Sublingual gland: under the
tongue, produces saliva and
begin chemical digestion of
carbohydrates.
consisting of the bony hard
palate anteriorly and the soft
palate posteriorly. The uvula
is suspended from the soft
palate. The soft palate
closes the nasopharynx
during swallowing.
Pharynx, Larynx, and Esophagus
Structure of pharynx :
• Nasopharynx
The upper portion of the pharynx, the nasopharynx, extends
from the base of the skull to the upper surface of the soft
palate.
• Oropharynx
The oropharynx lies behind the oral cavity, extending from
the uvula to the level of the hyoid bone
• Laryngopharynx
The laryngopharynx, (Latin: pars laryngea pharyngis), also
known as hypopharynx, is the caudal part of pharynx; it is
the part of the throat that connects to the esophagus. It lies
inferior to the epiglottis and extends to the location where
this common pathway diverges into the respiratory (larynx)
and digestive (esophagus) pathways. At that point, the
laryngopharynx is continuous with the esophagus
posteriorly (Agarwal, 2018).
Stomach Anatomy

Component Source Function

Hydrocloric acid (HCl) Pariatal cells Converts pepsinogen
to pepsin, kills
pathogens

Pepsinogen Chief cells Inactive form pepsin

Pepsin From pepsinogen in Protein splitting
the presence of HCl enzyme

Mucus Goblet cells Protects the mucosa

Intrinsic factor Parietal cells Aids absorption of
vitamin B12

Serotonin & histamine Argentaffin cells Autocrine regulators

Gastrin G cells Stimulates secretion
of HCl
 Divisions of the small intestine
From pyloric sphincter of stomach to
duodenojejunal flexure (approx. 10 in.).
Common bile duct and pancreatic duct empty
into duodenum.

Duodenum

Middle section of the

small intestine. Joins the cecum of the
Characterized by deep Jejenum Ileum large intestine at the
folds of the mucosa ileocecal valve.
and submucosa, plicae
circulars.
 Intestinal enzymes and their actions

Nuclease
Sucrase (maltase Converts nucleic
and laktase) acids into
Converts nucleotides.
disaccharides
into Enterokinase
Peptidase Lipase
monosaccharide Activates trypsin
Converts Convert fats into
s. secreted from the
proteins into fatty acids and
glycerol. pancreas
amino acids.
 Divisions of the large intestine

Cecum Descending colon

1 First portion, resembles a dilated pouch.
4 Extends inferiorly on the left from the
splenic flexure to the pelvis.

Ascending colon Sigmoid colon

2 Extends superiorly on the right from the 5
cecum to the liver, at the hepatic flexure. S-shaped bend in the pelvic region.

Tranverse colon Rectum

3 Tranversely crosses the upper 6 Terminal portion of the large intestine
peritoneal cavity.
 Accessory Organs
Liver
The liver receives
oxygenated blood from the
hepatic artery, a branch of
the celiac artery.
Function of the liver are :
• Synthesis, storage, and
release of vitamins and
glycogen.
• Synthesis of blood
proteins.
• Phagocytosis of worn
red and white blood
cells and bacteria.
• Removal of toxic
compounds.
• Production of bile, which
emulsifies fats in the
duodenum
Gall bladder
Pouchlike organ attached to the
inferior surface of the liver.
Stores and concentrates bile.
Bile, produced in the liver, drains
through the hepatic ducts and
bile duct to the duodenum. When
the small intestine is empty, bile
is forced up the cystic duct to the
gall bladder for storage
Pancreas
Lies horizontally along the
posterior abdominal wall,
adjacent to the greater curvature
of the stomach. Among other
functions, the pancreas is the
chief factory for digestive
enzymes that are secreted into
the duodenum, the first segment
of the small intestine. These
enzymes break down protein,
fats, and carbohydrates
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