THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

ANATOMY
HOW IT WORKS
 MOUTH
Teeth

Salvary glands

Tongue
Larynx
Pharynx

Oesophagus
Liver
Pancreas

Stomach

Gall bladder

Large intestine

Ileum

Rectum

Anus
 TEETH

Teeth are essential for mechanical digestion, which is the first step of digestion, it ends with the
production of a bolus, which is then swalloed and passed on to the next part of the gut.
SALIVARY GLAND
There are 6 salivary glands: 2 parotid glands, located beneath the ears; 2
submandibular, located near the inner corner of the jaw and 2 sublingual
glands located beneath the toungue.
Their function is produce over a litre of saliva per day. Saliva contains
many substances whch are important for the transformation of the food
like:
 lysozyme: an enzyme that carries out antibacterial action that kills
many harmful organisms contained in food
 Salivary amylase: starts hydrolisis of amid contained in carbohydrates
from which produces maltose and dextrin, that are energetic sources
 TONGUE

Tongue is an organ covered by taste buds, which contain taste

receptors that transmit stimuli from the food to the brain. The
majority of what we call «taste» is made up of herbs.
Tongue mixes food with saliva to form a mass ehich we call
«bolus».
The bolus is swallowed thanks to the tongue that pushes it
towards the pharynx, when the pharyngeal phase begins.
OESOPHAGUS
 LIVER
The liver is located between the intestine and the hearth. It is covered by a capsule
made of connective tissues, incorporated into the pritoneum, which is a serous
membrane that covers the abdominal cavities and the majority of the organs. Liver’s
functional unit is the hepatic lobule, a poligonal structure made of epithelial cell called
«hepatocytes», located around a capillary, called «portal vein», which transport
nutritive substances directly from the intestine to the liver. It has multiple functions:
 It produces the bile, a fundamental solution for digestion
 Removes the excessive glucose from the blood, converting it into glycogen
(glycogen homeostasis)
 Controls lipids’ metabolism, synthesising glycoproteins
 Synthesises many essential proteins, such as the one that balances osmotic
equilibrium in blood
 Processes harmul substances such as alcohool and drugs: this activity might
damage epathic cells, this is why that substances could be dangerous for the liver
 Synthesises urea
 Deposite iron and vitamins
 PANCREAS
The pancreas is both an endocrine and exocrine gland connected
to the digestive tube, it has a triangular shape and it’s located in
the upper left corner of the abdomen. It carries out 2 very
important functions:
 It controls glucose homeostasis by secreting insulin and
glucagon which keep constant glucose level in the blood
 It produces pancreatic juice (which contains some digestive
enzymes) and gets released in the duodenus by the pancreatic
duct
In particular, we define the part of the pancreas which carries out
the first function as the endocrine pancreas. We define the other
as the exocrine one.
 STOMACH
It is a muscular bag which stores food for a short time and mixes it with
acidic digesive juices to form a creamy liquid: the chyme. In the stomach
occurs part of the chemcal digestion, due to the secretion of gastric juice
(made of mucus, enzymes and chloridic acids HCl) that is acidic enough to
break down cells from the bolus.
The inner surface of the stomach is covered by extended folds and dotted
with gastric pits, linked to the gastric glands, which are made of 3 kind of
cells that secrete different compounds of gastric juices. These cells are:
 Mucous cell, that secrete mucus and intrinsic factos
 Parietal cell, that secrete hydrogen ions and chloride ions inside the
stmach’s lumen
 Chief cells, that sercete PEPSIOGEN, an inactive form of the digestive
enzime PEPSINA (which protects gastric gland cells)
GALL BLADDER
LARGE INTESTINE
ILEUM
RECTUM
ANUS
TAPPE
1. INGESTION
2. DIGESTION
3. ABSORPTION
4. EGESTION
 Ingestion
• It is divided into: Mastication and Swallowing.
• It processes food turning it into the Bolus which is processed in the
stomach.

1. Mastication:
• It is the first stage which occurs in the processing of food
• It is formed by two different actions, that are mechanical and chemical
• The mechanical processing is caused by chewing, that is the mixing and cutting of solid food, carried out by
teeth.
• The chemical part is carried out by the enzymes in saliva
PARTE UMBY
TEETH

AND TO REVISE…