Chapter 23: The Digestive System

The student should be able to:

1. Describe the overall function and major processes of the digestive system; identify
the organs of the alimentary canal and the accessory digestive organs.
2. Describe the tissue composition and the general function of each of the four layers of
the wall of the alimentary canal.
3. Describe the digestive functions of the mouth and salivary glands. Describe the
composition and functions of saliva, and explain how salivation is regulated.
4. Briefly describe the mechanisms of chewing (mastication) and swallowing (deglutition).
5. Briefly describe the general functions of the stomach; identify structural
modifications of the wall of the stomach that enhance the digestive process.
6. Describe the composition of gastric juice, name the gastric gland cell types responsible
for secreting its various components, and indicate the importance of each component in
digestive activity.
7. Explain how gastric secretion, gastric motility, and gastric emptying are regulated;
describe the function of hormones and paracrines produced by the stomach.
8. Describe the digestive functions of the liver, gallbladder and pancreas. State the roles
of bile and of pancreatic juice in digestion.
9. Describe how the secretion of bile and pancreatic juice and their entry into the small
intestine are regulated. (See Figure 23.28.)
10. Briefly describe several major metabolic functions of the liver. (See Chapter 24, Table
24.5)
11. Describe the functions of the small intestine; identify structural modifications of the
wall of the small intestine that enhance the digestive process and describe the
function of hormones produced by the small intestine.
12. Describe the functions of the large intestine, and describe its motility and regulation
of defecation.
13. Describe the digestion of each of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in relation to
locations where the various steps occur, names of enzymes, sources of enzymes, and
end products (See Figure 23.34.)
14. Describe the mechanisms by which the final end products of digestion of
carbohydrates, proteins and fats, as well as water, are absorbed into the blood or
lymph.
15. Do the following Review Questions at the end of Chapter 23: 1 – 23, 25 - 32.

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