Activities occurring in the….

Mouth
Pharynx
Esophagus
 Food Ingestion and Breakdown
Once food has been placed in the mouth, both
mechanical and chemical digestion begin.
Food Ingestion – Food entering into the body
• First, the food is physically broken down into
smaller particles by chewing. Then, as food is
mixed w/ saliva, salivary amylase begins the
chemical digestion of starch, breaking it down
into maltose
• Saliva is normally secreted continuously to
keep the mouth moist, but when food enters
the mouth, much larger amounts of saliva
pour out
• However, the simply pressure of anything put
in the mouth and chewed will also stimulate
the release of saliva. Some emotional stimuli
can also cause salivation
• Salivation is stimulated by parasympathetic
fibers in CN V & IX
• Essentially no food absorption occurs in the
mouth. However, some drugs like
nitroglycerine are absorbed easily through the
oral mucosa
• The pharynx and esophagus have no digestive
function; they simply provide passageways to
carry food to the next processing site, the
stomach
 Food Propulsion – Swallowing and
Peristalsis
• For food to be sent on its way from the
mouth, it must first be swallowed.
 Deglutition/swallowing
• It is a complex process that involves the
coordinated activity of several structures
• It has 2 major phases: Buccal phase &
pharyngeal esophageal phase.
 Buccal phase
• The first phase, the voluntary buccal phase,
occurs in the mouth. Once the food has been
chewed and well mixed with saliva, the bolus
(food mass) is forced into the pharynx by the
tongue.
 Buccal phase
• As food enters the pharynx, it passes out of
our control (involuntary) and into the realm of
reflex activity going to the next phase.
 Pharyngeal-esophageal phase
• The second phase, the involuntary pharyngeal
-esophageal phase, transports food through the
pharynx and esophagus.
The parasympathetic division of the ANS
(primarily CN X) controls this phase and
promotes mobility of the digestive organs
from this point.
• All routes that the food might take, except the
desired route distal into the digestive tract,
are blocked off?
• The tongue blocks off the mouth and the soft
palate closes off the nasal passages. The
larynx rises so that its opening is covered by
the flap like epiglottis.
• Food is moved through the pharynx then into
the esophagus below by wavelike peristaltic
contractions of their muscular walls – first the
longitudinal muscles contract and then the
circular muscles contract
• If we try to talk while swallowing, our routing
mechanism may be “short-circuited,” and food
may enter the respiratory passages. This
triggers still another protective reflex –
coughing – during which air rushes upward
from the lungs to attempt to expel food
• Once food reaches the distal end of the
esophagus, it presses against the
cardioesophageal sphincter, causing it to open
and food enters the stomach
Question: Why do you think that astronauts in
the zero gravity of outer space can still
swallow and get nourishment?
Because the movement of food through the
pharynx and esophagus is so automatic that a
person can swallow and food will reach the
stomach even if he is standing on his head.
 Activities of the Stomach
• Secretion of gastric juice is regulated by both
neural and hormonal factors.
• Sight, smell and taste of food stimulate
parasympathetic NS reflexes which increases
the secretion of gastric juice by the stomach
glands
• The presence of food and a rising pH in the
stomach stimulate the stomach cells to
release the hormone gastrin.

• Gastric juice –
• Gastrin -
• Gastrin pods the stomach glands to produce
still more of the protein-digesting enzymes
(pepsinogens), mucus and hydrochloric acid
(HCl).
• 2 – 3 liters of gastric juice are produced every
day under normal conditions.
• HCl makes the stomach contents very acid
• Both HCl and pepsinogens are dangerous due to
the ability to digest the stomach itself that can
cause ulcers but as long as there is enough
mucus, the stomach is safe and will be unharmed
• Occasionally, the cardioesophageal sphincter
fails to close tightly and gastric juice backs up
into the esophagus, which has little mucus
protection thus, result to the characteristic
pain known as heartburn.
• If uncorrected will lead to inflammation of the
esophagus (esophagitis) and may even lead to
ulceration of the esophagus
• Hiatal hernia – a common cause that has a
structural abnormality in which the superior
part of the stomach protrudes slightly above
the diaphram
• Because the diaphragm no longer reinforces
the cardioesophageal sphincter, gastric juice
flows into the unprotected esophagus.
• Treatment involves restricting food intake
after the evening meal, taking anacids and
sleeping with the head elevated.
• The extermely acidic environment that
hydrochloric acid provides is necessary
because it activates pepsinogen to pepsin, the
active protein-digesting enzyme.
• Rennin, the second protein-digesting enzyme
produced by the stomach works primarily on
milk protein and converts it to a substance
that looks like sour milk
• Many mothers mistakenly think that the curdy
substance infants often spit up after feeding is
milk that has soured in their stomch
• Rennin is produced in large amounts in infants
but it is not believed to be produced in adults
• Other than the beginning of protein digestion,
little chemical digestion occurs in the stomach
except aspirin and alcohol because they seem
somehow to have a special pass
• Virtually no absorption occurs through the
stomach walls
• As food enters and fills the stomach, its wall
begins to stretch, (at the same time the gastric
juices are being secreted as just described)
• Then the three muscle layers of the stomach
wall become active. They compress and
pummel the food, breaking it apart physically
• All the while continuously mixing the food
with the enzyme-containing gastric juice so
that the semifluid chyme is formed
• The process looks something like the
preparation of a cake mix, in which the floury
mixture is repeatedly folded on itself and
mixed with the liquid until it reaches uniform
texture
Food Propulsion
• Once the food has been well mixed, a rippling
peristalsis begins in the upper half of the
stomach
• The contractions increases in force as the food
approaches the pyloric valve
• The pylorus of the stomach can hold about 30
ml of chyme
• Acts like a meter that allows only liquids and
very small particles to pass through the pyloric
sphincter
• Because the pyloric sphincter barely opens,
each contraction of the stomach muscle
squirts 3ml or less of chyme into ……..
• The contraction also closes the valve, so ther
rest (about 27 ml) is propelled backward into
the stomach for more mixing, a process called
retropulsion
• When the duodenum is filled with chyme and
its wall is stretched, a nervous reflex, the
enterogastric reflex, occurs
• This reflex “puts the brakes on” gastric activity
so it slowens the emptying of the stomach by
inhibiting the vagus nerves and tightening the
pyloric sphincter thus allowing time for
intestinal processing to catch up
• Generally, it takes about 4 hours for the
stomach to empty completely after the person
eats a “well-balanced meal” but 6 hours + if
meal has a high fat content
• Local irritation of the stomach (like bacterial
food poisioning) activates medulla (emeteric center)
• Medulla causes vomiting in response of the
local irritation of the stomach
• Vomiting is essentially a reverse peristalsis
occurring in the stomach (and maybe in the
small intestine) accompanied by contraction
of the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm
which increases pressure on the abdominal
organs
• Medulla can also be activated through other
pathways. Ex. Disturbance of the equilibrium
apparatus of the inner ear during a boat ride
on rough water is one example
 Activities of the Small Intestine
• Food reaching in the small intestine is only
partially digested. Carbohydrate and protein
digestion has begun but virtually no fats have
been digested up to this point. By the time the
food reaches the end of the small intestine,
digestion is complete and nearly all food
absorption has occurred
• The microvilli of small intestine cells bear a
few important enzymes “brush border
enzymes” that break down double sugars into
simple sugars and complete protein digestion
• Intestinal juice is relatively enzyme poor and
protective muscus is probably the most
imporatant intestinal gland secretion.
• Horever, foods entering the small intestine are
literally deluged w/ enzyme-rich “pancreatic
juice” ducted in from the pancrease as well as
bile from the liver
• Pancreatic juice contains enzymes that
(1) Along with brush border enzymes, complete
the digestion of starch (pancreatic amylase)
(2) Carry out about half of protein digestion (via
the action of typsin, chymotrypsin,
carboxypeptidase, and others)
(3) Are totally responsible for fat digestion
because the pancreas is essentiall the only
source of lipases
(4) Digest nucleic acids (nucleases)
• In addition to enzymes, pancreatic juice
contains a rich supply of bicarbonate, which
makes it very basic (about pH 8).
• When pancreatic juice reaches the small
intestine, it neutralizes the acidic chyme
coming in from the stomach and provides the
proper environment for activation and activity
of intestinal and pancreatic digestive enzymes
• Pancreatitis – a rare but extremely serious
inflammation of the pancreas cause by
alcoholism, gallstones, cigarette smoking and
etc.
• The release of pancreatic juice into the
duodenum is stimulated by both the vagus
nerves and local hormones. When chyme
enters the small intestine, it stimulates the
mucosa cells to produce several hormones.
Two of these hormones(secretin and
cholecystokinin “CCK”) influence the release
of pancreatic juice and bile
• Bile is not an enzyme but instead, it acts like a
detergent to emulsify or mechanically break
down, large fat gobules into thousands of tiny
ones, providing greater surface area for the
pancreatic lipases to work on
• It is also necessary for absorption of fats
• If either bile or pancreatic juice is absent,
essentially no fat digestion or absorption goes
on and fatty, bulky stools are the result
• Absorption of water and of the end products
of digestion occurs all along the elngth of the
small intestine
• Absorption of water and of the end products
of digestion occurs all along the length of the
small intestine.
• Most substances are absorbed through the
intestinal cell plasma membranes by the
process of active transport then they enter the
capillary beds in the villi to be transported in
the blood to the liver via the hepatic portal
vein.
• The exception seems to be lipids or fats which
are absorbed passively by the process of
diffusion.
• Lipid breakdown products enter both the
capillary beds and the lacteals in the villi and
are carried to the liver by both blood and
lymphatic fluids
• At the end of the ileum, all that remains is
some water, indigestible food materials (plant
fibers such as cellulose) and large amounts of
bacteria. This debris enters the large intestine
through the ileocecal valve
 Food Propulsion
• Peristalsis is the major means of propelling
food through the digestive tract. It involves
waves of contraction that move along the
length of the intestine followed by waves of
relaxation
• The net effect is that the food is moved
through the small intestine in much the same
way that toothpaste is squeezed from a tube.
• Rhythmic segmental movements produce
local constrictions of the intestine that mix the
chyme with the digestive juices and help to
propel food through the intestine
 Activities of the Large Intestine
• What is finally delivered to the large intestine
contains few nutrients but that residue still
has 12 – 24 hours more to spend there.
• The colon itself produces no digestive
enzymes. However the “resident” bacteria
that live in its lumen metabolize some of the
remaining nutrients, releasing gases (CH4 &
H2S2that contribute the odor of feces
• About 500mL of gas (flatus) is produced each
day, much more when certain carbohydrate-
rich foods (such as beans) are eaten.
• Bacteria residing in the large intestine also
make some vitamins (vitamin K and some B
vitamins)
• Absorption by the large intestine is limited to
the absorption of these vitamins, some ions
and most of the remaining water.
• Feces, the solid product delivered to the
rectum, contain undigested food residues,
mucus, millions of bacteria and just enough
water to allow their smooth passage.
 Propulsion of the Residue and
Defecation
• When presented with food residue, the colon
begins contractions but they are
sluggish/short-lived.
• Movements most seen in the colon are
haustral contractions, slow segmenting
movements lasting about 1 minute that occur
every 30 minutes or so.
• As a haustrum fills with food residue, the
distension stimulates its muscle to contract,
which propels the luminal contents into the
next haustrum. These movements also mix
the residue which aids in water absorption.
• Mass movements are long, slow-moving but
powerful contractile waves that move over
large areas of the colon three or four times
daily and force the contents toward the
rectum. Typically, they occur during or just
after eating, when food begins to fill the
stomach and small intestine.
• Bulk or fiber in the diet increases the strength
of colon contractions and softens the stool,
allowing the colon to act as a well-oiled
machine
• The rectum is generally empty but when feces
are forced into it by mass movements and its
wall is stretched, the defecation reflex is
initiated. The defecation reflex is a spinal
(sacral region) reflex that causes the walls of
the sigmoid colon and the rectum to contract
and the anal sphincters to relax.
• As the feces are forced through the anal canal,
messages reach the brain giving us time to
make a decision as to whether the external
voluntary sphincter should remain open or be
constricted to stop passage of feces.
• Diarrhea – result from any condition that
rushes food residue through the large
intestine before that organ has had sufficient
time to absorb the water
• Constipation – result from lack of fiber in diet,
poor bowel habits and laxative abuse