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Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to: Describe the mechanism of feeding State and explain four stages of food processing including hormonal control. Differentiate the variation in vertebrate digestive system.

Main feeding mechanisms

Suspension

feeders Substrate feeders Fluid feeders Bulk feeders

Main feeding mechanisms

Suspension feeder/ filter feeders

Sieve small food particles from water E.g : whales, clams and flamingos

Main feeding mechanisms

Substrate feeders

Animals that live in/on their food source Eat their way through the food E.g : earthworms and termites

Main feeding mechanisms

Fluid feeders

Suck nutrient-rich fluid from a living host E.g : mosquito, aphids

Main feeding mechanisms

Bulk feeders

Eat relatively large pieces of food (swallow altogether) Spend a long time to digest their food E.g : snake

Mouth Esophagus Stomach Large intestine Rectum

Anus

Tongue Glands in mouth that make saliva

Pancreas
Liver Gallbladder
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 The mammalian digestive system consists of an alimentary canal and accessory glands that secrete digestive juices through ducts
Mammalian accessory glands are the salivary

glands, the pancreas, the liver, and the gallbladder

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Stages of Food Processing

Ingestion is the act of eating

Digestion is the process of breaking food down into molecules small enough to absorb
In chemical digestion, the process of enzymatic hydrolysis

splits bonds in molecules with the addition of water

Absorption is uptake of nutrients by body cells Elimination is the passage of undigested material

out of the digestive compartment

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Fig. 41-7

Small molecules
Pieces of food Mechanical digestion
Chemical digestion Nutrient (enzymatic hydrolysis) molecules

enter body cells Undigested material

Food

1 Ingestion

2 Digestion

3 Absorption

4 Elimination

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Digestion: Mechanical & Chemical

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Digestive Compartments
Animals with simple body plans have a gastrovascular cavity that functions in both digestion and distribution of nutrients.
More complex animals have a digestive tube

with two openings, a mouth and an anus called a complete digestive tract or an alimentary canal
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Gastrovascular Cavity

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Fig. 41-10a

Tongue Oral cavity Salivary glands Pharynx

Sphincter

Esophagus

Liver

Sphincter
Stomach

Ascending portion of large intestine

Gallbladder
Pancreas

Duodenum of small intestine Small intestine

Small intestine

Large intestine
Rectum

Anus
Appendix Cecum
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Variation of alimentary canal related organ

Crop is a pouch like organ in which food is usually

softened, moistened and stored temporarily

Gizzards Actively churn and grind the food (physical

fragmentation)

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Fig. 41-9a

Crop Esophagus Pharynx

Gizzard Intestine

Anus

Mouth

Typhlosole
Lumen of intestine (a) Earthworm
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Fig. 41-9b

Foregut Esophagus

Midgut

Hindgut Rectum Anus

Crop Mouth (b) Grasshopper Gastric cecae

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Fig. 41-9c

Stomach Gizzard Intestine Mouth Esophagus Crop

Anus

(c) Bird

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Fig. 41-10b

Salivary glands Mouth Esophagus

Gallbladder

Stomach Small intestine Large intestine

Liver Pancreas

Rectum Anus A schematic diagram of the human digestive system

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 The first stage of digestion is mechanical and

takes place in the oral cavity

- Human teeth suit their omnivorous lifestyle.
- They are simple carnivorous at their mouth front by having cuspids and incisors. - Behind the cuspids are two premolars and three molars used for grinding and crushing food.

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Fig. 41-18

Incisors

Premolars (a) Carnivore

Canines

Molars

(b) Herbivore

(c) Omnivore
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 The palate, the bone-reinforced section of the mouth

provides a hard surface for the tongue to press the food in order to mix with the saliva.

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 As for the tongue, besides equipped with taste buds to

help us taste the food, the tongue helps shaped it into a bolus.

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 Salivary gland produce and secrete saliva that

* Cleanses the mouth * Moistens and dissolves food chemicals * Aids in bolus formation * Contains salivary amilase which initiates the chemical digestion (breaking down) of starch into sugar. Three types salivary glands (parotid, sublingual and submandibular)

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Esophagus
The esophagus is a muscular tube that conveys

boluses from the pharynx to the stomach by peristalsis.

The region we call our throat is the pharynx, a

junction that opens to both the esophagus and the trachea (windpipe)
The trachea leads to the lungs
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Esophagus
From esophagus to the anal canal of the walls of the GI

(gastrointestinal tract) have the same four tunics:

- mucosa, submucosa, mascularis externa and serosa.

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During swallowing, the esophageal sphincter muscle is relaxed allowing bolus to enter the esophagus epiglottis is down glottis is closed - Coughing occurs when the swallowing reflex fails and food or liquids reach the windpipe

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Fig. 41-11-2

Food Tongue Pharynx Epiglottis up Esophageal sphincter contracted Trachea Esophagus Glottis up and closed

Glottis Larynx

Epiglottis down Esophageal sphincter relaxed

To To lungs stomach

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Fig. 41-11-3

Food Tongue Pharynx Epiglottis up Esophageal sphincter contracted Trachea Esophagus Glottis up and closed Epiglottis up Epiglottis down Esophageal sphincter relaxed

Glottis Larynx

Glottis down and open Relaxed muscles Relaxed muscles

Esophageal sphincter contracted

To To lungs stomach

Contracted muscles Sphincter relaxed

Stomach

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 In the esophagus, peristalsis happens

A wavelike contraction that squeezes a bolus

downwards to the stomach The movement of food is controlled by a sphincter.

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 Both layers of muscularis externa

contract involuntarily, meaning that whenever one muscle layer contract the other one relax.
This causes the peristalsis

process to happen and brings the bolus to the stomach.

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Stomach
The

stomach is convulated, enabling to fold up when empty and open out like an expanding balloon whenever it is full of food

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STOMACH
A bolus is moved down through the

esophagus through peristaltic contractions

When the sphincter at the entrance of the

stomach opens, food enters the stomach

Pyloric sphincter causes the chyme

to enter the small intestine one squirt at a time (2 6 hours)

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Small Intestine
The small intestine is about 4.5 m long where the first 25 cm is the duodenum; the remainder is divided into jejunum and ileum. The small intestine is the longest section of the alimentary canal It is the major organ of digestion and absorption

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Small Intestine

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Small intestines
The epithelial wall of the small intestine is covered

with tiny, fingerlike projection called villi.

The epithelial cells lining the villi have many

cytoplasmic extensions called the microvilli.

This greatly increases the surface area of the small

intestine that helps in the absorption process.

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Small intestines

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Large Intestine
The large intestine (colon) is much shorter than the small

intestine but it possesses a larger diameter.

No digestion takes place within the large intestine and only

about 4% of fluid absorption happens here.

Undigested material is compacted and stored.

Bacterial fermentation happens at the colon and produces

gases.
Compacted feces will be driven by peristalsis from the large

intestine into a short tube called rectum.

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Large intestine

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Large intestine
Two sphincters control passage to the anus; i) composed of smooth muscles that open involuntarily in response to pressure inside the rectum.
ii) composed of striated muscle that can be voluntarily controlled by the brain.

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Accessory organ
Consists of : pancreas gallbladder liver

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Pancreas
The pancreas is an exocrine organ pancreatic fluid is

secreted through the pancreatic duct The pancreatic fluid contains hydrolytic enzymes: 1. Trypsin & chymotrypsin (protein digestion) 2. Pancreatic amylase (carbohydrate digestion) 3. Lipase (fat digestion)

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Pancreas
The enzymes are released as inactive enzymes called

zymogens which will then be activated by the brush border enzymes of the small intestine.
Pancreatic fluid also contains bicarbonate that

function in neutralizing the HCl from the stomach.

The pancreas also plays a role as an endocrine gland.

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Liver
The main exocrine secretion of the liver is bile which is

a mixture of bile pigments and bile salts.

The bile pigments (by-products of red blood cell

destruction) did not participate in the digestion process. It is eliminated with feces.
Bile salts will play an important role in fat digestion

(emulsification process).
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Gallbladder
Gallbladder functions in storage and

concentration of bile salts.

The arrival of fatty food to the

duodenum triggers a reflex, causing contraction and injection of gallbladder to the duodenum.

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Human Digestive System

Chemical Digestion Accomplished through the use of chemicals known as digestive enzymes These complex molecules, such as fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, are digested (broken down) into smaller molecules. These smaller molecules can then be absorbed for use by cells.

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Chemical digestion MOUTH The salivary amylase enzyme begins hydrolyzing starch in the food
Salivary amylase will turn starch to oligosaccharide

and dissaccharides (maltose).

salivary amilase

polysaccharides ------------------ > maltose

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Chemical digestion STOMACH

The stomach secretes gastric juice from gastric glands Gastric juice contain

mucus, enzymes (pepsin & renin) and strong acid (HCL pH 1.5 2).

Mucus functions in lubricating and protecting the cell

lining in the stomach from the acidity of the gastric juice

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Chemical digestion - STOMACH The enzyme secreted is pepsinogen, an inactive form of the digestive enzyme pepsin. Acids converts pepsinogen to active pepsin by removing a small portion of the molecule and exposing the active sites
HCL

Pepsinogen ------- > Pepsin

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Fig. 41-12
Esophagus Sphincter Stomach

Sphincter 5 m Small intestine

Folds of epithelial tissue

Interior surface of stomach

Epithelium 3 Pepsinogen Pepsin 2 HCl 1 1 Pepsinogen and HCl are secreted.

Gastric gland

2 HCl converts pepsinogen to pepsin. H+ 3 Pepsin activates more pepsinogen.

Mucus cells

Cl

Chief cells Chief cell Parietal cells Parietal cell

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Chemical digestion - STOMACH Pepsin will digest protein into short polypeptides to make easier for the protein to undergo further digestion in the small intestine.
pepsin

Protein ------------ > short polypeptides

Contraction of the muscles in stomach will aids in

chemical digestion.
The stomach will mix the food boluses with the gastric

juice , forming a mixture called chyme.

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Chemical digestion SMALL INTESTINE

The first portion of the small intestine is the duodenum,

where acid chyme from the stomach mixes with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and the small intestine itself.
The epithelial lining of the small intestine is called the

brush border that released enzymes.

Chyme entering the duodenum will trigger the release of

pancreatic juice.
The enzymes in the pancreatic juice break down

carbohydrates, proteins, fats and nucleic acids

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Chemical digestion SMALL INTESTINE 1. Protein digestion

Trypsin Chymotrypsin

Protein ----------------------- > smaller polypeptides

Carboxypeptidase Aminopeptidase Dipeptidase

Brush border enzyme

Small polypetides ------------------------- > Amino acids

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Chemical digestion SMALL INTESTINE 2. Carbohydrate digestion

Pancreatic amylase

Polysaccharides -------------------- > di/mono saccharides

Disaccharides brush border

Disaccharides ---------------------- > monosaccharides

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Chemical digestion SMALL INTESTINE

3. Nucleic acid digestion
Pancreatic nucleases

DNA & RNA-------------------- > nucleotides

Intestinal nucleases

Nucleotides ---------------------- > bases / sugar

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Chemical digestion SMALL INTESTINE 4. Fat digestion

Bile salts

Fat globules ------------------- > Fat droplets (Emulsified)

Pancreatic lipase

Fat droplets ------------------- >fatty acids + glycerol

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Chemical digestion SMALL INTESTINE For fat digestion, a process called emulsification happens in the small intestine. This process functions in accelerating fat digestion.
Fats are triglycerides (not water-soluble). In the

chyme, they will clump to form fat globules

As the fat globules move in the intestinal wall, the

movement of the muscle layers breaks apart the fat globules into small droplets that get coated with bile salts.
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Chemical digestion SMALL INTESTINE Bile salts are negatively charged, making the droplets repel each other (separated with each other) and form an emulsion.
Emulsion droplets, which are separated, give fat

digesting enzyme lipase a greater surface area to act on.

By the time peristalsis has moved the chyme mixture

through the duodenum, chemical digestion of our meal is just about to complete.
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Fig. 41-13
Carbohydrate digestion Oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus Polysaccharides Disaccharides
(starch, glycogen) (sucrose, lactose)

Protein digestion

Nucleic acid digestion

Fat digestion

Salivary amylase Smaller polysaccharides, maltose Stomach Proteins Pepsin Small polypeptides Lumen of small intestine Polysaccharides Pancreatic amylases Maltose and other disaccharides Nucleotides Smaller polypeptides Pancreatic carboxypeptidase Amino acids Epithelium of small intestine (brush border) Pancreatic lipase Glycerol, fatty acids, monoglycerides Nucleotidases Nucleosides Dipeptidases, carboxypeptidase, and aminopeptidase Nucleosidases and phosphatases Nitrogenous bases, sugars, phosphates Polypeptides Pancreatic trypsin and chymotrypsin DNA, RNA Pancreatic nucleases Bile salts Fat droplets Fat globules

Small peptides
Disaccharidases

Monosaccharides

Amino acids

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Fig. 41-13a

Carbohydrate digestion
Polysaccharides Oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus
(starch, glycogen)

Disaccharides
(sucrose, lactose)

Salivary amylase Smaller polysaccharides, maltose

Stomach Polysaccharides Lumen of small intestine Pancreatic amylases Maltose and other disaccharides

Epithelium of small intestine (brush border)

Disaccharidases

Monosaccharides

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Protein digestion
Proteins Pepsin Small polypeptides Polypeptides Pancreatic trypsin and chymotrypsin Lumen of small intestine

Stomach

Smaller polypeptides

Pancreatic carboxypeptidase
Amino acids Small peptides Epithelium of small intestine (brush border) Dipeptidases, carboxypeptidase, and aminopeptidase Monosaccharides Amino acids
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Fig. 41-13c

Nucleic acid digestion

DNA, RNA Lumen of small intestine Pancreatic nucleases

Nucleotides

Nucleotidases Epithelium of small intestine (brush border) Nucleosides Nucleosidases and phosphatases Nitrogenous bases, sugars, phosphates

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Fig. 41-13d

Fat digestion
Fat globules

Bile salts Lumen of small intestine Fat droplets

Pancreatic lipase Glycerol, fatty acids, monoglycerides

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Absorption in the Small Intestine

The small intestine has a huge surface area, due to villi and microvilli that are exposed to the intestinal lumen
The enormous microvillar surface greatly increases the rate of nutrient absorption

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Fig. 41-15

Vein carrying blood to hepatic portal vein

Microvilli (brush border) at apical (lumenal) surface Lumen

Blood capillaries Epithelial cells Large circular folds

Muscle layers Villi

Basal surface Epithelial cells Lacteal

Key Nutrient absorption Intestinal wall Villi

Lymph vessel

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Fig. 41-15b

Microvilli (brush border) at apical (lumenal) surface Lumen

Blood capillaries Epithelial cells

Basal surface Epithelial cells Lacteal

Villi
Key

Lymph vessel

Nutrient absorption
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 Each villus contains a network of blood vessels and a small lymphatic vessel called a lacteal After glycerol and fatty acids are absorbed by epithelial cells, they are recombined into fats within

these cells
These fats are mixed with cholesterol and coated

with protein, forming molecules called chylomicrons, which are transported into lacteals
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Fig. 41-16

Lumen Triglycerides of small intestine

Fatty acids Epithelial cell

Monoglycerides

Triglycerides
Phospholipids, cholesterol, and proteins

Chylomicron

Lacteal
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 Amino acids and sugars pass through the epithelium of the small intestine and enter the bloodstream Capillaries and veins from the lacteals converge in the hepatic portal vein and deliver blood to the

liver and then on to the heart

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Hormonal Control
Four hormones altogether i. Gastrin ii. Cholecytoskinin (CCK) iii. Secretin iv. Enterogastrone

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Fig. 41-14

Liver

Gallbladder

Bile Stomach

Secretin and CCK

Gastrin +

CCK +

Pancreas

Duodenum of small intestine

Secretin + Key CCK + + Stimulation Inhibition

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Hormonal control
Gastrin (from stomach) stimulates the production of

gastric juice. CCK (from duodenum) stimulates the release of digestive enzymes from the pancreas and bile salts from the bladder Secretin (from duodenum) stimulates the release of bicarbonate from the pancreas Enterogastrone (from duodenum) inhibits peristalsis and acid secretion from the stomach slowing digestion of fat
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Vertebrate digestive system

Most herbivores lack enzyme that digest cellulose in

the vegetation cell wall, so they depend on microorganisms role to aid in their digestion.
Ruminants such as cows and other herbivores, they

have multiple stomach chambers in which cellulose is slowly broken down.

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Ruminant digestive system-cow

The first chamber contains of a rumen and a smaller

chamber called reticulum and the second portion consists of two additional chambers called the omasum and abomasum.
The breakdown of cellulose in tough plant materials

happens in the first and second stomach chamber where bacterial symbionts release digestive enzymes to digest the nutrients in cellulose.

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Ruminant digestive system-cow

The cow will then regurgitates and rechews the

contents of the first sac before swallowing again. This process is called rumination. This action exposes more surface area for the enzymes to react, resulting in more nutrients to be released for the hosts benefit. In the omasum water is absorbed In the abomasum, digestion is carried out by the cow's own enzyme. Absorption completed here.

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Cow digestive system

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Vertebrate digestive system

In animals like rodents, horses, deer and rabbits, the

digestion of cellulose is carried out by microorganisms in the enlarged cecum.

Because

it is located beyond regurgitation is impossible.

the

stomach,

Therefore, they swallowed their feces in order for the

absorption process to happen.

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Rabit digestive system

The ingested litter is called cecotropes and rabbits

need to ingest it to avoid malnutrition.

The fecal pellets are dry, consist of undigested fiber

compared to the mucus-coated cecotropes.

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Rabit digestive system

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Carnivore & Herbivore digestive system

Carnivores usually have large expandable stomach because it is harder for them to catch prey.
Shorter alimentary canal because it is easier to digest meat as compared to vegetation. Herbivores generally have longer alimentary canals than carnivores, reflecting the longer time needed to digest vegetation
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Fig. 41-19

Small intestine Stomach

Small intestine

Cecum

Colon (large intestine) Carnivore Herbivore

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Tutorial
Divide yourself into four groups. Each group will have to answer one

question only and topic will be given as listed below. Discuss and present. Q1: Trace a bite of food through the human digestive tract, listing each structure to which it passes. Q2 : Summarize step-by-step digestion of a a) carbohydrates b) fat c) proteins

Q3 : How does absorption of fat differ from the absorption of glucose?

Q4 : Give the functions of three types of accessory glands that secrete digestive juices in vertebrate. Identify their secretions.
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