Adib Abdullah 12.

1
Questions on Digestion and Cells
a) In the small intestine, disaccharides are digested and turned into their respective
monosaccharides. One of these is glucose. Glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream in
different stages. The first stage is facilitated diffusion because the glucose concentration is
lower in the epithelial cell than in the lumen outside. Here, glucose is carried across the
plasma membrane with the aid of carrier proteins as it is a water soluble substance; hence
the hydrophobic tails of the phospholipids do not allow it across. Diffusion only makes the
concentrations equal. To ensure that all the glucose is absorbed active transport and co-
transport is involved. Sodium ions are constantly pumped out of an epithelial cell using
active transport in a sodium-potassium pump. This is the action of movement against
sodiums concentration gradient. The sodium ions are then diffused using facilitated
diffusion but during this diffusion, glucose molecules bind on to the sodium ions and they
are carried into the cell. This is co-transport as the glucose is going against its concentration
gradient with the aid of the sodium; this is going down its gradient. All the glucose is then
absorbed into the blood plasma using a separate carrier protein.
b) The concentration of glucose is always kept higher in the epithelial cell than in the blood
capillaries using co-transport of the glucose from the lumen to the epithelial cell. Glucose is
also constantly being used by the cells in the body to produce energy. This glucose is
transported to other cells from the intestine in the blood. As the blood capillaries lose their
glucose, the concentration of glucose in the blood goes down therefore the epithelial cells
have a higher concentration of glucose by default. This concentration of glucose has to be
kept high in the epithelial cells as the cells in our body constantly respire and have a high
demand of glucose from the blood. If the concentration of glucose was lower in the
epithelial cells, diffusion of the glucose could not occur and our cells could not respire as
effectively.