7.

2 Alimentary Canal
Mechanical Digestion:
Breaking down of large, insoluble food to small food particles
through chewing

Chemical Digestion:
Breaking down of large, insoluble food molecules into small, water-
soluble molecules through digestive enzymes
Hydrolysis reactions = breakdown with water, catalyzed by enzymes
(opposite = condensation)
Peristalsis = wave-like muscle contractions that push the bolus down
towards the stomach and throughout the gut
*(reason why fiber is important as peristalsis cannot occur if food is too liquid)

Saliva contains amylase:

Starch  maltose
Stomach secretes Gastric juice: (Acidic)
1. Hydrochloric acid
a. Kill bacteria
b. Provide optimum pH for
pepsin & stop amylase
2. Mucus
a. Protects wall lining of the
stomach
3. Pepsin (protease enzyme)
Bile (made in liver & stored in gall bladder): Protein  polypeptides
1. Contains hydrogen carbonate which
neutralize acidic chime from stomach
2. Emulsifies fats (convert large gobules
of fats into smaller oil droplets) – this
helps to increase surface area for
lipase to act on Pancreatic juice contains: (Alkaline)
1. Pancreatic amylase
Starch  maltose
2. Trypsin (protease enzyme)
polypeptides  amino acid
3. Lipase
Fats  fatty acids + glycerol
Intestinal juice: Various enzymes inc.
Maltase (Maltose  glucose)
Trypsin, erepsin, lactase, lipase, renin

7.2 Alimentary Canal

Mechanical Digestion: ______________________________________
________________________________________________________
Chemical Digestion: ________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Hydrolysis reactions = breakdown with ______________, catalyzed
by ________________ (opposite = __________________)
Peristalsis = ________________________________________ that
push the bolus down towards the stomach and throughout the gut
*(reason why fiber is important as peristalsis cannot occur if food is
too liquid)

Saliva contains _________:

____________  maltose
Stomach secretes Gastric juice: (Acidic)
1. ____________________
Bile (made in liver & stored in gall bladder):
1. Contains _________________ which
______________ acidic chyme form stomach
2. _______________ fats (convert large gobules
of fats into smaller oil droplets) – this helps to
increase ______________ _________for
lipase to act on

Intestinal juice: Various enzymes inc.

Maltase (Maltose  glucose)
Trypsin, erepsin, lactase, lipase, renin

MASTERY MODEL
7.2 Define
ingestion = the taking of substances, e.g. food and drink, into the body through the mouth
mechanical digestion = the breakdown of food into smaller pieces without chemical change to the food
molecules
chemical digestion = the breakdown of large, insoluble molecules into small, soluble molecules
absorption = the movement of small food molecules and ions through the wall of the intestine into the
blood
assimilation = the movement of digested food molecules into the cells of the body where they are
used, becoming part of the cells
egestion = the passing out of food that has not been digested or absorbed, as faeces, through the anus

Diarrhoea
 Diarrhoea: loss of watery faeces
 Treatment of Diarrhea: using oral rehydration therapy (replenish salts & water)
 Cholera - disease caused by a bacterium
  Cholera bacterium produces a toxin that causes secretion of chloride ions into the small intestine,
causing osmotic movement of water into the gut, leading to diarrhoea, dehydration and loss of salts
from blood

7.4 Chemical digestion

1. State the significance of chemical digestion in the alimentary canal in producing small,
soluble molecules that can be absorbed
2. State the functions of enzymes as follows:
– amylase breaks down starch to simpler sugars
– protease breaks down protein to amino acids
– lipase breaks down fats to fatty acids and glycerol
3. State where, in the alimentary canal, amylase, protease and lipase are secreted
4. Describe the digestion of starch in the alimentary canal:
– amylase is secreted into the alimentary canal and breaks down starch to maltose
– maltose is broken down by maltase to glucose on the membranes of the epithelium lining
the small intestine
5. Describe pepsin and trypsin as two protease enzymes that function in different parts of
the alimentary canal:
– pepsin in the stomach
– trypsin in the small intestine
6. State the functions of the hydrochloric acid in gastric juice, limited to killing bacteria in
food and giving an acid pH for enzymes
7. Explain the functions of the hydrochloric acid in gastric juice, limited to the low pH:
– denaturing enzymes in harmful microorganisms in food
– giving the optimum pH for pepsin activity
8. Outline the role of bile in neutralising the acidic mixture of food and gastric juices
entering the duodenum from the stomach, to provide a suitable pH for enzyme action
9. Outline the role of bile in emulsifying fats to increase the surface area for the chemical
digestion of fat to fatty acids and glycerol by lipase