IP Pre-Worksheet GI

Intermediate Physiology Digestive System Lab 3 Pre-Worksheet
Label the following:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
The Mechanical and Chemical Events of Digestion

Mechanical digestion is a physical process that increases the surface area of ingested food and
prepares it for chemical digestion by enzymes. The chewing of food in the mouth and the
churning of food in the stomach are examples of the mechanical breakdown of food. Chemical
digestion, by contrast, involves the action of hydrolytic enzymes that chemically break
macromolecules (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids) into their building blocks.
Digestive Processes
The digestive system performs six basic processes.
Describe the following and state which organ is primarily responsible for each process:
Note: One organ may perform multiple functions.
Ingestion
Secretion
Motility
Digestion
Absorption
Defecation
The Stomach
The stomach is a highly muscular organ that is located in the upper left quadrant of the
abdominal cavity, under the diaphragm. This organ uses hydrochloric acid and enzymes
to digest food, creating a fairly harsh environment, and its mucosa is quite thick to
prevent autodigestion. When the stomach is full it is said to be distended or flexed,
however, when it is empty structures called rugae form in the lining of the stomach.
Rugae are simply folds found within the stomach when it is not fully distended.
One of the major processes that begins in the esophagus and continues into the
stomach is peristalsis. Peristalsis is the rhythmic contraction of smooth muscle that
propels food toward the stomach from the esophagus, and once in the stomach,
peristalsis continues and churns the food into the duodenum of the small intestines.
This churning of the food is under autonomic control and is continuously being done by
the smooth muscle lining the esophagus and stomach. The churning aids in the
digestion of the bolus in the stomach, as well as the movement of the bolus.
In the figures above you can see the peristalsis occurring within the esophagus as well
as the stomach and the rugae.
1. What is peristalsis and in which organs does it primarily occur? Be specific.
2. Why does the stomach need to have a thick mucusa layer? What role does it
play?
3. What is rugae and under which conditions is the rugae present in the stomach?
Breakdown In The Digestive Tract

Match each word with its corresponding sentence.
Word Bank
Bicarbonate-rich HCl Mucus Bile
Fluid
Hormonal Stimulus Pepsin Brush border Lipases

enzymes
Psychological Chewing Mechanical stimulus

stimulus
Churning Mouth Salivary Amylase
1. Starch digestion begins in the mouth when ________ is ducted in by the salivary glands.
2. Gastrin, which prods the stomach glands to produce more enzymes and HCl represents
a _________.
3. The fact that the mere thought of a relished food can make your mouth water is an
example of ___________.
4. Many people chew gum to increase saliva formation when their mouth is dry. This type
of stimulus is a ___________.
5. Protein foods are largely acted on in the stomach by ____________.
6. For the stomach protein-digesting enzymes to become active, ____________ is needed.
7. Since living cells of the stomach (and everywhere) are largely protein, it is amazing that
they are not digested by the activity of stomach enzymes. The most important means of
stomach protection is the ____________ it produces.
8. The third layer of smooth muscle found in the stomach wall allows mixing and
mechanical breakdown by _______________.
9. Important intestinal enzymes are the _______________.
10. The small intestine is protected from the corrosive action of hydrochloric acid in chyme
by ____________, which is ducted in the pancreas.
11. The pancreas produces protein-digesting enzymes, amylase, and nucleases. It is the
only important source of ______________.
12. A nonenzyme substance that causes fat to be dispersed into smaller globules is
_____________.
The Small and Large Intestines
The small intestines are composed of three major parts: The duodenum, jejunum, and
ileum. The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine and it is primarily involved
in chemical digestion. It contains disaccharidases and peptidases that break down
disaccharides and peptides, respectively. It also works hand-in-hand with secretin and
cholecystokinin (CCK), both of which are hormones that aid in digestion. Secretin
stimulates the release of pancreatic juices into the digestive tract, it also causes the liver
to increase its production of bile. CCK stimulates the release of bile from the gallbladder
as well as pancreatic juices. The jejunum and ileum mostly function in absorption. They
are lined with villi, which increase the surface area available for absorption.
The large intestine absorbs excess water and salts, forming semi solid feces. It consists
of the cecum, colon, and rectum. All three have similar functions, but it is important to
note that it is in the rectum where the feces is stored and it is excreted via the anus.
1. Describe the flow of food (chyme) through the small intestines. Be specific as to
what occurs at each subunit.
2. Label the following structures on the image below and give a brief description
of their function.
● Cecum
● Colon
● Rectum
● Anus
Protein and Fat Digestion

Protein digestion begins in the stomach. The gastric mucosa contains cells that secrete both
hydrochloric acid (HCl) and pepsinogen. Pepsinogen reacts with the HCl to become its active
form, pepsin. Pepsin hydrolyzes proteins into large polypeptides, which then enter the small
intestine. The pancreatic enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin chemically break down the large
polypeptides to smaller polypeptides and peptides. Finally, brush border enzymes such as
aminopeptidase and dipeptidase cleave the peptides to release the final products: small
oligopeptides and amino acids.
Lipids include triglycerides, steroids, and phospholipids, in addition to other lipoid substances.
Triglycerides, also called neutral fats, are the most abundant dietary lipids. Lipids are difficult to
chemically digest because they are hydrophobic and thus tend to aggregate in large spherical
droplets within the aqueous fluid in the digestive tract. The formation of droplets greatly reduces
the surface area of lipid on which the water-soluble lipases (fat-digesting enzymes) can act,
because the enzymes can contact lipid molecules only on the outer surface of the droplets. For
the digestion of triglycerides to occur efficiently, large fat droplets in the stomach must first be
separated by stomach churning (peristalsis) and gastric lipases into smaller fat globules. Most
digestion of triglycerides occurs in the small intestine. When chyme entering the duodenum
contains fat, intestinal cells there release the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK), which stimulates
the gallbladder to contract and release bile (which contains bile salts). When bile arrives in the
small intestine, the bile salts emulsify the fat droplets into still smaller fat droplets, enabling
pancreatic lipase to hydrolyze fats into their building blocks: free fatty acids and glycerol. Bile
salts remain associated with the digested fats to form small spheres of lipids called micelles.
Hormones
Word choices can be used more than once:
A. Cholecystokinin (CCK)
B. Gastrin
C. Secretin
_____________1. These two hormones stimulate the pancreas to release its secretions.
_____________2. This hormone stimulates increased production of gastric juice.
_____________3. This hormone causes the gallbladder to release stored bile.
_____________4. This hormone causes the liver to increase its output of bile.

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Intermediate Physiology Digestive System Lab 3 Pre-Worksheet

Label the following:

The Mechanical and Chemical Events of Digestion

Breakdown In The Digestive Tract

Hormonal Stimulus Pepsin Brush border Lipases

Psychological Chewing Mechanical stimulus

Churning Mouth Salivary Amylase

The Small and Large Intestines

Protein and Fat Digestion

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