Regulation of Digestion

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Regulation

Most textbooks, although technically quite correct in their physiology, make the topic of
digestive regulation more complicated than it has to be. Basically, there is nervous and
hormonal control over digestion.

Nervous Control

The nervous system operates via the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous
system (mostly the vagus nerve) to control digestion. Higher brain centers (sometimes
termed cerebral or cephalic control) can stimulate the digestive system. The thought of
food, smelling food, or even sensory events associated with food (remember Pavlov's
dog?) can stimulate digestive system structures.

Numerous reflexes also stimulate digestive structures. Tactile stimulation of the mouth
can induce salivation. Stretching of the stomach initiates reflexes which stimulate the
GI-tract. Chemoreceptors detecting food molecules and other chemicals in the GI-tract
can likewise stimulate the parasympathetic response. In general, the parasympathetic
response stimulates nearly all digestive glands to some degree, causes weak
gallbladder contraction, and increases the motility (movement) of the smooth muscle of
the entire tract. Some reflexes have already been mentioned during the discussion of
functional anatomy, such as the defecation reflex. Increased motility of the intestine also
seems to loosen the ileo-cecal valve, allowing material to freely move from the ileum
into the large intestine.

Hormonal control

Although most hormones typically studied in Anatomy & Physiology are produced by
distinct endocrine glands, many important hormones are produced in small clumps of
endocrine tissue within organs. This is the case for most of the hormones important in
regulating the digestive process.
In what could be considered a positive feedback loop, stretching of the stomach, the
presence of food, and possibly H+ within the stomach trigger the release of the
hormone gastrin from endocrine tissue within the stomach. Gastrin stimulates chief and
parietal cells, causing more of the digestive juices to be released. This seems to trigger
further gastrin release, and so on. This makes sense when we consider that we do not
want homeostasis in the stomach after a meal, we want to make something happen
(digestion and liquefying of food).

Food molecules and H+ entering the duodenum trigger the release of the hormones
secretin and CCK from endocrine tissue within the duodenum. Secretin stimulates the
release of bicarbonate ions from the pancreas, ensuring that we will promptly neutralize
the acidic chyme entering the duodenum. Secretin also seems to have several subtle
effects on the digestive system, including helping to shut off gastrin production in the
stomach. CCK stimulates gallbladder contraction and the production of enzymes in the
pancreas. Together, Secretin and CCK inhibit gastrin release, which makes sense
considering that the stomach's role in liquefying food must be over if chyme is entering
the duodenum.
 

Metabolism
The goal of all this is to provide raw materials for building cells and tissues, and to
provide energy storage molecules for the body. Anabolism describes using these raw
materials to build intracellular of extracellular structures. Catabolism describes
breaking down structures or molecules, usually for energy production needs.
Anabolism has been discussed sufficiently for this area when chemistry, cells, and
tissues were covered in the course. Catabolism, specifically cellular respiration is
covered as a separate topic.

Nervous Control of Digestion

There are two separate nervous controls of digestion: the intrinsic and extrinsic nerve plexuses.

Intrinsic plexuses

The intrinsic nerve plexuses of the digestive system are collectively called the enteric nervous
system. These nerve plexuses function independently of the central nervous system, controlling
digestive function in response to stimuli inside the digestive tract.

There are two intrinsic nerve plexuses that control the short reflexes of the digestive system:

 Myenteric plexus - Controls contraction of smooth muscles in the digestive system


 Submucosal plexus - Controls secretions in the digestive system

Extrinsic plexuses

The extrinsic nerve plexuses control the long reflexes of the digestive system. The long reflexes
involve the central nervous system and nerves of the autonomic nervous system. The extrinsic
nerve plexuses control digestive responses from outside the digestive system such as emotion
and information about food from the special senses (sight, smell, taste). The extrinsic nerves
come from both branches of the ANS (sympathetic and parasympathetic) and alter the activity of
the intrinsic plexuses, hormone secretion or directly stimulate or inhibit smooth muscles and
glands.

The extrinsic inputs from the two branches of the ANS have different effects on the digestive
system:

 Sympathetic - tends to be inhibitory (decreases secretions and muscle movements, constricts


sphincters)
 Parasympathetic - tends to be excitatory (increases secretions and muscle movements, relaxes
sphincters); the vagus nerve (Cranial nerve X) controls most parasympathetic activities

Control of gastric secretions

Secretions of the stomach are controlled in three separate phases:


Cephalic phase

 Excitatory - increases stomach secretions


 Thought, taste, smell, mastication and swallowing increase vagal nerve stimulation of the
intrinsic nerve plexuses

Gastric phase

 Excitatory - increases stomach secretions


 Stimuli in the stomach increase gastric secretions
 Protein is the strongest stimulus; activates both the extrinsic and intrinsic plexuses
 Gastrin release promotes further stomach secretions

Intestinal phase

 Inhibitory - decreases stomach secretions


 When the small intestine is distended (stretched) it suppresses the activity of the stomach to
prevent too much chyme from entering the small intestine

Summary of Digestive Enzymes

The digestive enzymes in the table below are summarized according to type of food that they
digest.

FOOD TYPE ENZYME SOURCE PRODUCTS

CARBOHYDRATES Salivary amylase Salivary glands Maltose

Pancreatic amylase Pancreas Maltose

Maltase Small intestine Glucose

PROTEINS Pepsin Stomach mucosa Peptides

Trypsin Pancreas Peptides

Peptidases Intestinal mucosa Amino acids

FATS Lipase Pancreas Fatty acids


and monoglycerides

The table below shows digestive enzymes grouped by source of the enzyme.
SOURCE ENZYME FOOD PRODUCT

MOUTH (salivary glands) Salivary amylase Polysaccharides Maltose

STOMACH Pepsin Proteins Peptides

PANCREAS Pancreatic amylase Polysaccharides Maltose

Trypsin Proteins Peptides

Lipase Fats Fatty acids


and monoglycerides

SMALL INTESTINE Maltase Maltose Glucose

Peptidases Peptides Amino acids

Practice

Fill in the source of each enzyme in the table below and state the product produced by the
enzyme.

FOOD TYPE SOURCE PRODUCTS

enzyme

CARBOHYDRATES    

salivary amylase

pancreatic amylase

disaccharidases

PROTEINS    

pepsins

trypsin, chymotrypsin

carboxypeptidase

aminopeptidase
FATS    

lipase

Explain how the structure of the villus is related to its role in absorption and transport of
the products of digestion.

There are a great number of villus, which help increase the surface area for absorption, and the
microvilli in the villus will help even further in the process. Also, the villus has a surface
membrane which food passes through in order to be absorbed quickly. Mitochondria will help
create ATP in order to the active transport to work, and the lacteal will eliminate the fats after
absorption.

Accessory Digestive Organs

The Pancreas

The pancreas, a large gland situated near the junction of the stomach and the small intestine (see
figure 25.5), is one of the accessory organs that contribute secretions to the digestive tract. Fluid
from the pancreas is secreted into the duodenum through the pancreatic duct shown in figure
25.16. Note that the pancreatic duct joins with another duct, the common bile duct (discussed
later), before entering the small intestine. This fluid contains a host of enzymes, including trypsin
and chymotrypsin, which digest proteins. Inactive forms of these enzymes are released into the
duodenum and are then activated by the enzymes of the intestine. Pancreatic fluid also contains
pancreatic amylase, which digests starch; and lipase, which digests fats. Pancreatic enzymes
digest proteins into smaller polypeptides, polysaccharides into shorter chains of sugars, and fat
into free fatty acids and other products. The digestion of these molecules is then completed by
the intestinal enzymes.

Pancreatic fluid also contains bicarbonate, which neutralizes the HCl from the stomach and gives
the chyme in the duodenum a slightly alkaline pH. The digestive enzymes and bicarbonate are
produced by clusters of secretory cells known as acini.

In addition to its exocrine role in digestion, the pancreas also functions as an endocrine gland,
secreting several hormones into the blood that control the blood levels of glucose and other
nutrients. These hormones are produced in the islets of Langerhans, clusters of endocrine cells
scattered throughout the pancreas and shown in the enlarged view in figure 25.16. The two most
important pancreatic hormones, insulin and glucagon, are discussed in chapters 26 and 30.
Figure 25.16. The pancreatic and bile ducts empty into the duodenum.

The Liver and Gallbladder

The liver is the largest internal organ of the body. In an adult human, the liver weighs about 1.5
kilograms and is the size of a football. The main exocrine secretion of the liver is bile, a fluid
mixture consisting of bile pigments and bile salts that is delivered into the duodenum during the
digestion of a meal.

The bile salts play a very important role in the digestion of fats. As explained earlier, fats are
insoluble in water, and so they enter the intestine as drops within the watery chyme. The bile
salts work like detergents, dispersing the large drops of fat into a fine suspension of smaller
droplets. This breaking up, or emulsification, of the fat into droplets produces a greater surface
area of fat upon which the lipase enzymes can act, and thus allows the digestion of fat to proceed
more rapidly.

After it is produced in the liver, bile is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder (the green
organ in figure 25.16). The arrival of fatty food in the duodenum triggers a neural and endocrine
reflex that stimulates the gallbladder to contract, causing bile to be transported through the
common bile duct and injected into the duodenum. If the bile duct is blocked by a gallstone
(formed from a hardened precipitate of cholesterol), contraction of the gallbladder causes pain
that is generally felt under the right scapula (shoulder blade).

The digestive system is highly specialized and involves the interactions of many different organs.
Figure 25.17 overviews the different functional areas in the digestive system and the different
organs involved. The colored circles indicate the primary areas of digestion and enzyme
production: red for protein digestion, orange for carbohydrate digestion, green for fat digestion,
and blue for nucleic acid digestion (not really discussed in this chapter as nucleic acids are not a
major source of calories in the diet).
Figure 25.17. The organs of the digestive system and their functions.

The digestive system contains some dozen different organs that act on the food that is consumed,
starting with the mouth and ending with the anus. All of these organs must work properly for the
body to effectively obtain nutrients.

Regulatory Functions of the Liver

Because a large vein carries blood from the stomach and intestine directly to the liver, the liver is
in a position to chemically modify the substances absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract before
they reach the rest of the body. For example, ingested alcohol and other drugs are taken into liver
cells and metabolized; this is why the liver is often damaged as a result of alcohol and drug
abuse. The liver also removes toxins, pesticides, carcinogens, and other poisons, converting them
into less-toxic forms. Also, excess amino acids that may be present in the blood are converted to
glucose by liver enzymes. The first step in this conversion is the removal of the amino group (—
NH2) from the amino acid, a process called deamination. Unlike plants, animals cannot reuse the
nitrogen from these amino groups and must excrete it as nitrogenous waste. The product of
amino acid deamination, ammonia (NH3), combines with carbon dioxide to form urea. The urea
is released by the liver into the bloodstream, where—as you will learn in chapter 26—the
kidneys subsequently remove it.

Key Learning Outcome 25.8. The pancreas secretes digestive enzymes and bicarbonate into the
pancreatic duct. The liver produces bile, which is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder. The
liver and the pancreatic hormones regulate blood glucose concentration.

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