Digestive System Science 8 4th Qtr

● Digestive System
○ uniquely designed to turn food you eat into nutrients, which the body uses for energy, growth
and cell repair.

1. Mouth
● Two Types of Digestion
➢ Physical or Mechanical Digestion
- tearing of food by teeth to swallow food
➢ Chemical Digestion
- salivary gland which is an accessory organ producing saliva and has an enzyme called
amylase to break down carbohydrate to starch or sugar.

● Bolus - mixture of saliva and food

 2. Pharynx
- almost 5 inches long from naso to laryngo.
- 2 separation/pathway: right side going to esophagus; left side going to respiratory system.
- Nasopharynx - back of nose; exchange of gasses(O2 and CO2)
- Oropharynx - back of mouth
- Laryngopharynx - before larynx or windpipe

● Epiglottis - flap cartilage that closes to ensure that the food doesn’t go to respiratory system.

3. Esophagus
● serve as passageway of food
● 8 to 10 inches long
● Peristalsis - process of involuntary contraction and relaxation of esophagus called propulsion
(driving or pushing forward of food).

4. Stomach

● Esophageal Sphincter
- valve or gate that opens and closes to 2 parts of digestive system
- middle of esophagus and stomach to prevent backflow of food
 ex.when vomit or overeating e.s. opens up and food goes up; if from esophagus the food is still intact but
if it’s mushy and acidic it’s from the stomach.

○ If the acidic sphincter is weak, after vomiting it’s sour because the juice in the stomach is included, same
case with acid reflux.
○ Liquid part in the stomach is a mixture of gastric juices and enzymes (pepsin and trypsin) to break down
the food, especially fats.
○ Food stays in stomach for about 3-4 hours ( span of fullness of stomach)
○ Stomach has mucus as protection against acids

● Pyloric sphincter - between stomach and small intestines

- close while digesting food in stomach so liquid won’t flow into small intestine.

5. Small Intestine - divided into 3 parts:

A. Duodenum- connected to stomach
B. Jejunum - middle
C. Ileum - connected to large intestine

● Villus/Villi - responsible for absorption of nutrients from digestion

- connected to bloodstream to deliver nutrients to other parts of body.

6. Pancreas
- accessory organ that produces pancreatic juice ( break down fats, carbohydrate and protein)
- also produces insulin ( regulate sugar level of the body).
 7. Liver - produce bile; and Gallbladder
- stops bile; if there’s only food it will release bile to help in breakdown of food (fats- hard to
dissolve)

8. Large intestine -waste or undigested food goes here

- a. Caecum;
b. Colon (Ascending, Tranverse, Descending);
c. Rectum
- stool or feces (conversion of undigested food into semi solid wastes)
- rectum passageway of feces and out of anus.

● Path of Food
Digestion
- process of breaking down food into smaller pieces so our body can absorb them.
- food undergoes physical and chemical changes as it moves from one part of gastrointestinal
tract (digestive tract) to other.

● Two Types of Digestion

➢ Physical or Mechanical Digestion
- tearing of food by teeth to swallow food
➢ Chemical Digestion
- salivary gland which is an accessory organ producing saliva and has an enzyme called
amylase to break down carbohydrate to starch or sugar.
 ● Bolus - mixture of saliva and food

Processes of Digestive System

1. Ingestion
- start when food is taken into mouth, pharynx and esophagus
- Peristalsis - muscle contractions in the esophagus to help move food down to the stomach.
2. Digestion
a. In Stomach
- first encounter with gastric juice
- stomach rumbling sound due to boiling of liquid component as gastric juices churned in an
empty stomach; indicates already hungry, time to eat
- some glands start to produce gastric juices to prepare stomach for food you will eat.

- gastric juice - provide acidic environment in stomach.

- composed of hydrochloric acid (not an enzyme) and pepsin (enzyme to digest protein)

- Sphincter- regulator muscle of stomach which prevents food from escaping.

- soft muscle as valve at the esophagus to stomach then to small intestine(
Pyloric sphincter)
b. In Small Intestine
- starch is converted into sugar by saliva and protein is broken down into simpler proteins
- sugar, carbohydrates, protein and fats are digested in small intestine.
- Bile - produced by liver
- stored in gallbladder.
- breaks fat and oil into smaller particles.
- Pancreatic juice
- mixture of enzymes that break carbohydrates (starch), fat and protein.
- released every time there is food in small intestine.
- Carbohydrates
- broken down into simple sugars absorbed in small intestine; circulated to different
parts of body as they join bloodstream.
- used up as sources of energy once assimilated by cells; those circulated into liver are
stored
- amino acids
- proteins broken down into component parts in stomach.
- aided by acids secreted by cells that make up stomach walls and enzymes present in
gastric juice.
- simple sugars, absorbed in small intestine through.
- Villi
- fingerlike structures that line the walls of small intestines circulated to different parts
of body.
- those circulated in liver are stored as glycogen.
- Fats and Lipids
 - digestion completed in small intestine where bile secreted from liver disintegrates
them into fatty acids and glycerol particles circulated to rest of body and stored in
fatty tissues.

* Digestion ends when they become amino acids, glucose, fatty acids and glycerin
Carbohydrates- converted into glucose and glycerin which are absorbed and stored by the body Protein -
converted to amino acid
Fats and lipids - converted to fatty acids

3. Absorption - happens when villi absorbed the nutrients

After digestion, nutrients present in blood reach target cells and tissues that utilize
them for activities.
4. Assimilation - synthesizing biological compounds (macromolecules) from absorbed simple
molecules.
- helps in cell growth and development and new cell production.
5. Elimination or Excretion
- undigested parts of food or those not absorbed by body moves to large intestine like cellulose of
fruits and vegetables.
- changes undigested food into semi-solid waste or feces which leave the body through anus.