DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

PREPARED BY: SARAH DIANA ROSE MANALILI,RN

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
 the system by which ingested food is acted 
upon by physical and chemical means to 
provide
the body with absorbable nutrients and to
 excrete waste products; in mammals the 
system
includes the alimentary canal extending
 from the mouth to the anus.
ACTIVITIES IN THE DIGESTIVE
SYSTEM
Ingestion
Mechanical Digestion
Chemical Digestion
Movements
Absorption
Elimination
INGESTION

The first activity of the digestive

system is to take in food through
the mouth. This process, called 
ingestion, has to take place
before anything else can happen.
MECHANICAL DIGESTION

The large pieces of food that are ingested

have to be broken into smaller particles that
can be acted upon by various enzymes. This is
mechanical digestion, which begins in the
mouth with chewing or mastication and
continues with churning and mixing actions
in the stomach.
CHEMICAL DIGESTION

The complex molecules of carbohydrates,

proteins, and fats are transformed by chemical
digestion into smaller molecules that can be
absorbed and utilized by the cells. Chemical
digestion, through a process called hydrolysis,
uses water and digestive enzymes to break down
the complex molecules. Digestive enzymes speed
up the hydrolysis process, which is otherwise very
slow.
MOVEMENTS
After ingestion and mastication, the food particles move from the
mouth into the pharynx, then into the esophagus. This movement
is deglutition, or swallowing. Mixing movements occur in the
stomach as a result of smooth muscle contraction. These
repetitive contractions usually occur in small segments of the
digestive tract and mix the food particles with enzymes and other
fluids. The movements that propel the food particles through the
digestive tract are called peristalsis. These are rhythmic waves of
contractions that move the food particles through the various
regions in which mechanical and chemical digestion takes place.
ABSORPTION

The simple molecules that result

from chemical digestion pass
through cell membranes of the lining
in the small intestine into the blood
 or lymph capillaries.
ELIMINATION
The food molecules that cannot be
digested or absorbed need to be
eliminated from the body. The removal
of indigestible wastes through the anus,
in the form of feces, is defecation or
elimination.
FOUR LAYERS OF THE GASTO INTESTINAL TRACT
 MUCOSA
A lining epithelium, including glandular tissue, an
underlying layer of loose connective tissue called
the lamina propria, which provides vascular support for
the epithelium, and often contains mucosal glands.
Products of digestion pass into these capillaries.
Lymphoid follicles, and plasma cells are also often found
here. Finally, a thin double layer of smooth muscle is
often present - the muscularis mucosa for local
movement of the mucosa.
 SUBMUCOSA
A loose connective tissue
layer, with larger blood
vessels, lymphatics, nerves,
and can contain mucous
secreting glands.
MUSCULARIS PROPRIA (EXTERNA): SMOOTH
MUSCLE LAYER.

There are usually two layers; the inner

layer is circular, and the outer layer is
longitudinal. These layers of smooth
muscle are used for peristalsis
(rhythmic waves of contraction), to
move food down through the gut.
ADVENTIA LAYER (OR SEROSA)

Outermost layer of loose

connective tissue - covered by
the visceral peritoneum.
Contains blood vessels,
lymphatics and nerves.
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
ANATOMY
MOUTH
 Food begins its journey through the digestive
system in the mouth, also known as the 
oral cavity.
Inside the mouth are many accessory organs that
aid in the digestion of food—the tongue, teeth,
and salivary glands. Teeth chop food into small
pieces, which are moistened by saliva before the
tongue and other muscles push the food into the
pharynx.
TEETH
 Teeth. The teeth are 32 small, hard organs found along
the anterior and lateral edges of the mouth.
 Each tooth is made of a bone-like substance called
dentin and covered in a layer of enamel—the hardest
substance in the body.
 Teeth are living organs and contain blood vessels and
nerves under the dentin in a soft region known as the
pulp. The teeth are designed for cutting and grinding
food into smaller pieces.
TONGUE
THE TONGUE

is located on the inferior portion of the mouth just posterior and

medial to the teeth.
It is a small organ made up of several pairs of muscles covered in
a thin, bumpy, skin-like layer.
The outside of the tongue contains many rough papillae for
gripping food as it is moved by the tongue’s muscles.
The taste buds on the surface of the tongue detect taste
molecules in food and connect to nerves in the tongue to send
taste information to the brain. The tongue also helps to push food
toward the posterior part of the mouth for swallowing.
SALIVARY GLANDS
SALIVARY GLANDS
Surrounding the mouth are 3 sets of salivary
glands. The salivary glands are accessory
organs that produce a watery secretion
known as saliva. Saliva helps to moisten food
and begins the digestion of carbohydrates.
The body also uses saliva to lubricate food as
it passes through the mouth, pharynx, and
esophagus.
 parotid glands—their secretion is mainly serous.
 the submandibular glands, these produce both 
serous fluid and mucus. 
 the sublingual glands located underneath the
tongue and their secretion is mainly mucous with
a small percentage of saliva.
 importance is the presence in saliva of the digestive
enzymes amylase and lipase.
 Amylase starts to work on the starch in carbohydrates,
breaking it down into the simple sugars of maltose and 
dextrose that can be further broken down in the small
intestine.
 Lipase starts to work on breaking down fats. Lipase is
further produced in the pancreas where it is released to
continue this digestion of fats.
PHARYNX
THE PHARYNX, OR THROAT

is a funnel-shaped tube connected to the posterior

end of the mouth.
The pharynx is responsible for the passing of
masses of chewed food from the mouth to the
esophagus. Because the pharynx serves two
different functions, it contains a flap of tissue
known as the epiglottis that acts as a switch to
route food to the esophagus and air to the larynx.
ESOPHAGUS
ESOPHAGUS
is a muscular tube connecting the throat (pharynx) with the stomach. The
esophagus is about 8 inches long, and is lined by moist pink tissue called mucosa.
The esophagus runs behind the windpipe (trachea) and heart, and in front of the
spine.
The upper esophageal sphincter (UES) is a bundle of muscles at the top of the
esophagus. The muscles of the UES are under conscious control, used when
breathing, eating, belching, and vomiting. They keep food and secretions from
going down the windpipe.
The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is a bundle of muscles at the low end of the
esophagus, where it meets the stomach. When the LES is closed, it prevents acid
and stomach contents from traveling backwards from the stomach. The LES
muscles are not under voluntary control.
STOMACH
THE STOMACH
 The stomach is a muscular organ located on the left side of the
upper abdomen.. As food reaches the end of the esophagus, it
enters the stomach through a muscular valve called the lower
esophageal sphincter.
 The stomach secretes acid and enzymes that digest food.
Ridges of muscle tissue called rugae line the stomach. The
stomach muscles contract periodically, churning food to
enhance digestion.
 The pyloric sphincter is a muscular valve that opens to allow
food to pass from the stomach to the small intestine.
 Gastric acid (informally gastric juice), produced in the stomach plays a vital role in the
digestive process, and mainly contains hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride

 A peptide hormone, gastrin, produced by G cells in the gastric glands, stimulates the

production of gastric juice which activates the digestive enzymes. 
 Pepsinogen is a precursor enzyme (zymogen) produced by the gastric chief cells, and
gastric acid activates this to the enzyme pepsin which begins the digestion of 
proteins
 Gastric lipase secreted by the chief cells in the fundic glands in the gastric mucosa of
the stomach, is an acidic lipase, in contrast with the alkaline pancreatic lipase. This
breaks down fats to some degree though is not as efficient as the pancreatic lipase.
SMALL INTESTINE
THE SMALL INTESTINE
 The small intestine (small bowel) is about 20 feet long
and about an inch in diameter. Its job is to absorb most
of the nutrients from what we eat and drink. Velvety
tissue lines the small intestine, which is divided into the
duodenum, jejunum, and ileum.

 By the time food leaves the small intestine, around 90%

of all nutrients have been extracted from the food that
entered it.
LIVER AND GALLBLADDER
GALLBLADDER
 Its primary function is to store and concentrate bile, a
yellow-brown digestive enzyme produced by the liver. 
 When food enters the small intestine, a hormone called
cholecystokinin is released, signaling the gallbladder to
contract and secrete bile into the small intestine
through the common bile duct.
The bile helps the digestive process by breaking up fats.
It also drains waste products from the liver into the
duodenum, a part of the small intestine.
BILE
 Lipase digests the triglycerides which are broken down
into two fatty acids and a monoglyceride.
 These are then absorbed by villi on the intestinal wall. If
fats are not absorbed in this way in the small intestine
problems can arise later in the large intestine which is
not equipped to absorb fats.
 Bile also helps in the absorption of vitamin K from the
diet.
LIVER
 can detoxify various metabolites; synthesise proteins and
produce biochemicals needed for digestion. It regulates the
storage of glycogenwhich it can form from glucose (
glycogenesis) The liver can detoxify various metabolites;
synthesise proteins and produce biochemicals needed for
digestion.
 It also maintains protein metabolism in its synthesis and
degradation. In lipid metabolism it synthesises cholesterol. 
 Fats are also produced in the process of lipogenesis. The liver
synthesises the bulk of lipoproteins
PANCREAS
Bile is collected and delivered through
the common hepatic duct. This duct
joins with the cystic duct to connect in a 
common bile duct with the gallbladder.
Bile is stored in the gallbladder for
release when food is discharged into the
duodenum and also after a few hours.
LOCATION OF PANCREAS

The pancreas is about 6 inches long and

sits across the back of the abdomen,
behind the stomach. The head of the
pancreas is on the right side of the
abdomen and is connected to the
duodenum (the first section of the small
intestine) through a small tube called the
pancreatic duct. 
FUNCTIONS OF THE PANCREAS

 Exocrine Function:
 The pancreas contains exocrine glands that produce enzymes important to
digestion.
 These enzymes include trypsin and chymotrypsin to digest proteins; amylase for
the digestion of carbohydrates; and lipase to break down fats.
 When food enters the stomach, these pancreatic juices are released into a system
of ducts that culminate in the main pancreatic duct. The pancreatic duct joins
the common bile duct to form the ampulla of Vater which is located at the first
portion of the small intestine, called the duodenum. The common bile duct
originates in the liver and the gallbladder and produces another important
digestive juice called bile.
ENDOCRINE FUNCTION

islet cells (islets of Langerhans) that create and release

important hormones directly into the bloodstream.
Two of the main pancreatic hormones are insulin, which
acts to lower blood sugar, and glucagon, which acts to
raise blood sugar.
Maintaining proper blood sugar levels is crucial to the
functioning of key organs including the brain, liver, and
kidneys.
COLON
COLON (LARGE INTESTINE)

 The colon is a 5- to 6-foot-long muscular tube that

connects the cecum (the first part of the large
intestine to the rectum (the last part of the large
intestine). It is made up of the cecum, the
ascending (right) colon, the transverse (across)
colon, the descending (left) colon, and the
sigmoid colon (so-called for its "S" shape; the
Greek letter for S is called the sigma), which
connects to the rectum.
CHO, CHON AND FATS
METABOLISM