The Digestive and Respiratory Systems

Unit 3

1. HUMAN NUTRITION.
Nutrients are found in foods. They are complex mixtures of
many different substances which have to be transformed
by our bodies to use them.
Multicellular organisms have a number of organs, grouped
together in the systems in our bodies.These organs
prepare nutrients, distribute them and expel the waste
products.
The systems involve in human nutrition are: respiratory
system, excretory system, digestive system and circulatory system.

2. THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

It is made up of the digestive tract
and accessory glands.
The digestive tract (about 8 m long)
starts in the mouth and ends in the
anus. It is made up of these parts: oral
cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach,
small and large intestine.
Accessory glands are organs that
release secretions into the digestive
tract. These include the salivary glands,
the gastric glands and the intestinal
glands. The liver and pancreas are
larger glands which release digestive
secretions into the digestive tract.

3. PREPARATION FOR DIGESTION.

Food substances need to be transformed into
simple compounds through a number of
mechanical and chemical processes.
Foods are processed in the digestive tract thanks
to the action of digestive enzymes. This process is
called digestion.
Digestion really starts in the stomach, but foods
undergo a number of processes before they reach
that organ: insalivation, mastication and swallowing.

3.1. Insalivation.

Saliva is a watery substance secreted by the

salivary glands: the parotid, submandibular
and sublingual glands.
They are located under the tongue and on
both sides of the mouth cavity.
The functions of saliva:
Starts digesting the starch molecules
due to the amylase (digestive enzyme).
Destroys some of the bacteria in food.
Helps the food bolus to pass down
towards the pharynx and oesophagus.
The tongues movements make mastication
easier and helps to mix food with saliva.

3.2. Mastication or chewing.

In this process, food is ground and crushed and then
turned into smaller pieces to make it easier to digest.
It is carried out by our teeth. Teeth are a set of very
hard structures made of calcium and fluoride
compounds.
There are 3 different types of teeth:
Incisor: used to cut food.
Canine (fang): used to tear food.
Molars (premolar and molar): used to grind and
crush food.
Childrens first teeth are called milk teeth and they are
gradually replaced by permanent teeth.
The tongue moves food around the different teeth.
The food ground up by the teeth mixes with the saliva
to form a mass known as the food bolus.

3.3. Swallowing.
The tongues movement causes swallowing.
The bolus passes down the pharynx and the
oesophagus, which leads to the stomach.
The two muscular layers in the walls of the
oesophagus contract to move the bolus
downwards (peristalsis).
During swallowing, when the upper
aperture of the larynx is closed, it is
imposible to breathe (this prevents the food
from passing into the airways).
There are 3 different phases in the
swallowing process: the first is voluntary
and the following two are involuntary.

Activities
Now, you can do these activities:
Core Concepts Book: page 25 - 1, 2, 3 y 4.
Spanish Book: page 41 (11) and 54 (2, 3, 4, 5 y 7).

4. THE DIGESTIVE
PROCESS.
The real digestion process starts in the stomach
and continues in the small intestine.
Nutrients are absorbed in the small and large
intestine.

4.1. The stomach.

It is a bagpipe-shaped organ connected to the small intestine via
the pylorus (valve usually closed) and to the oesophagus via the
cardia (always open).
The food bolus stays in the stomach for between 3 and 4 hours.
Here it mixes with the gastric juice.
The resulting mixture is called chyme (more fluid than the
bolus). When chyme becomes highly acid, the pylorus opens and
the chyme moves into the small intestine.
The inside wall of the stomach is covered in mucus to protect it
from the gastric juice.
Gastric juice is produced through an involuntary process (see or
smell food; food comes into contact with mucus).

4.2. The small intestine.

It is a tube around 6 or 7
metres long between the
pylorus and the ileocaecal
valve (vlvula ileocecal).
In the small intestine, chyme
comes into contact with
digestive juices secreted by
the liver and pancreas.
The glands in the mucous
membrane of the small
intestine produce intestinal
juice, which contains
enzymes that digest nutrients.

The liver
It is a large organ located in the top-right of the
abdomen, partially covering the stomach.
It contains a lot of blood, so its colour is reddish brown.
It has many functions related to different processes
including digestion. It also captures and destroys most
of the toxic molecules that enter the body.
It produces the bile, which enters the duodenum via the
ampulla of Vater. Bile is stored in the gall bladder and
is only released when food enters the intestine.
Bile contains substances called bile salts which help to
digest fats.

The pancreas
It is a long, greyish-white glandular organ behind
and underneath the stomach.
It has 2 functions:
It produces hormones (insulin and glucagon)
which regulate the amount of glucose in the
internal milieu and liver.
It secretes pancreatic juice, which enters the
duodenum via the ampulla of Vater. This
contains digestive enzymes and sodium
bicarbonate, which neutralizes the acidic
chyme.

How digestion works?

In the small intestine, chyme mixes with bile,

pancreatic juice and intestinal juice to form
chyle.
As foods are digested, a number of simple
molecules which nourish cells are produced:
monosaccharides (from complex carbohydrates),
fatty acids and glycerol (from fats) and amino acids
(from proteins).

How nutrients are absorbed?

Nutrients from digestion and water, mineral salts and vitamins,
which do not need to be digested, have to reach the cells.
They pass into the blood from the intestine (absorption).
Nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine, except water and
mineral salts, which are mostly absorbed in the large intestine.
The inside of the small intestine is covered in folds (repliegues)
called intestinal villi (vellosidades intestinales). These villi are full
of capillaries.
The plasma membrane of the villi cells is also covered in folds
called microvilli (microvellosidades) in order to absorbe nutrients
more efficiently.
The products released during the digestion of fats are collected
by capillaries in the lymphatic system, not by blood capillaries.

4.3. The large intestine.

It is wider and shorter than the small intestine
and does not have any microvilli.
Almost all the absorption of water and mineral
salts takes place in the large intestine.
Waste products are also compacted here to form
faeces.
Faeces are moved through the intestine by
peristalsis and expelled the body via the anus, in a
mechanism called egestion.

Activities
Now, you can do these activities:
Core Concepts Book:
page 27: 7, 9, 11, 12.
page 32: 2.
Spanish Book:
page 42: 13.
page 43: 14.
page 47: 20, 21.
page 54: 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15.
page 55: 17, 18.

5. THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.

Our cells need oxygen: it is essential for cellular respiration.
Cellular respiration creates carbon dioxide: this has to be
eliminated from the body.
The respiratory system captures oxygen from the air and
collect carbon dioxide from the blood and expelled from the
body.
The respiratory system is made up of:
The airways: tubes that collect the air.
The lungs: where gases are exchanged between the blood
and the air.

5.1. The transport and

modification of air
The air must be clean, moist and warm when it
reaches the lungs.
Air is modified inside the airways.

Nasal cavity
This is where air enters the system.
In the first section, the internal wall is full of
capillaries that warm up the air.
The mucous membranes start to clean and
moisten the air.

Pharynx
This tract is shared by the digestive and
respiratory systems.
The food continues to the oesophagus and the
aire moves down to the larynx.
The tonsils, which produce white blood cells, are
on the sides of the pharynx.

Larynx
The entrance to the larynx is controlled by the
epiglottis, which closes when there is food in the
pharynx.
Air passes through the larynx and into the
trachea.
Here there are two ring-shaped folds: the vocal
cords. They vibrate and emit sounds.

Trachea
This tube is about 12 cm long and has C-shaped
rings of cartilage.
The mucus in the trachea traps any foreign
particles present in the air.
The inside of the trachea is covered whit
vibrating filaments called cilia that moves the
mucus towards the pharynx.

Bronchi and Bronchioles

The trachea divides into two bronchi.
Each bronchus leads to a lung and splits into
smaller tubes: the bronchioles. These dont have
cartilaginous rings.
The final branches of the bronchioles lead to a
series of tiny sacs: the pulmonary alveoli, where
gas exchange takes place.

The lungs
The bronchi, bronchioles, pulmonary alveoli and a
vast network of blood capillaries combine to form the
lungs.
The lungs are two highly elastic sponge-like organs.
The right lung is made up of three parts, called lobes.
The left lung has two lobes.
The lungs are surrounded by pleurae, two membranes
separated by a fluid layer that keeps them together.

5.2. Gas exchange.

5.3. Pulmonary ventilation.

Activities
Now, you can do these activities:
Core Concepts Book:
page 29: 13, 15, 16, 18.
page 32: 4.