Life Processes-Digestive System

We need food to fuel our bodies for energy, growth and repair. The digestive system converts the foods we eat into their
simplest forms, like glucose (sugars), amino acids (that make up protein) or fatty acids (that make up fats). The broken-
down food is then absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine and the nutrients are carried to each cell in
the body.The digestive tract begins at the mouth and ends at the anus. It is like a long muscular tube, up to 10 metres
long, with digestive organs attached along the way.

It has two parts-

A. Digestive tract
B. Digestive glands

Digestive tract-
A. Mouth:
By crushing the food with our teeth, food is converted to generate particles, which are small and of the same texture.
The meal is also moistened to make it easier to pass through.The salivary glands secrete a fluid known as
saliva.Salivary amylase is an enzyme that breaks down starch, which is a complicated molecule, to produce simple
sugar.
The food is extensively combined with saliva and moved around the mouth by the muscular tongue when chewing.
Dental formula:
Overall adults have 32 teeth in total, called permanent or secondary teeth, and it includes:
Eight incisors – Four incisors in the upper jaw and four incisors in the lower jaw.
Four canines – Two canines in the upper jaw and two canines in the lower jaw.
Eight premolars– Four premolars in the upper jaw and four premolars in the lower jaw.
Twelve molars- Six molars in the upper jaw and six in the lower jaw. It also includes four wisdom teeth.
Dental formula :
The dental formula for the adult human beings is 2123/2123. There are 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars aand 3 molars
in one row.

Milk teeth vs permanent teeth:

Milk teeth:
Milk teeth are the initial set of teeth that develop throughout childhood and fall out between the ages of 6 and 8 years.
Baby teeth, milk teeth, or primary teeth are collectively referred to as deciduous teeth.
Permanent teeth :
Any of the second set of teeth of a mammal that follow the milk teeth, typically persist into old age, and in humans are 32
in number.
Adult teeth or secondary teeth are other names for permanent teeth.

# Wishdom teeth :
The last tooth to come in at the back of each side of the upper and lower jaws. These teeth usually come in between 17
and 23 years of age, but not everyone has them. Also called third molar.

# Salivary gland:
The three main pairs of salivary glands are the parotid glands, the sublingual glands, and the submandibular glands.

B. Pharynx: It is a part of the throat that connects the mouth to the oesophagus and nose to the larynx. It is a muscular
tube that starts behind the nose, runs down the neck. Pharynx is a common passage in both the respiratory and
digestive systems.The epiglottis is a cartilaginous flap usually upright at rest allowing air to pass into the larynx and
lungs. When a person swallows the epiglottis folds backward to cover the entrance of the larynx so food and liquid do
not enter the windpipe and lungs.

C. The food pipe or oesophagus is a long muscular tube which provides a passageway for the food from the buccal
cavity to the stomach.
The food pipe shows peristalsis which is an involuntary movement of muscles in a wave-like pattern. This special
movement helps the esophagus in carrying the food in the direction of the stomach. The food pipe or oesophagus is
divided into the following layers:

Mucosa: The inner layer

Submucosa: The layer responsible for producing secretions
Muscularis: Food is pushed down through this layer made up of muscles
Adventitia: Esophagus

D. Stomach:
The stomach of a human is located on the upper left side of the abdomen. An adult's stomach is about 10 inches (25
centimeters) long. It secrets digestive juice
A. HCl: Glands of the stomach secrets it to activate Pepsinogen enzyme and active pepsin is formed. Pepsin is required
to digest protein into Amino acid.

B. Mucus-The inside of the stomach is protected from gastric juices by a mucus lining.

C. Pepsinogen: It is activated in presence of HCL. It helps in protein digestion.

Stomach muscles perform churning movement when food enters the stomach and therefore, it combines food and
gastric juices. The semisolid part thus formed is called chyme.Here, food is converted into semi-liquid form and protein
digestion begins in the stomach. The stomach also transports food to the small intestine.

Small intestine:
The longest part of the alimentary canal is the small intestine. It is a highly coiled structure of about 7.5 meters in length.
It secretes intestinal juice. It receives bile juice from the liver and pancreatic juice from the pancreas.
Intestinal juice contains-
A. Intestinal amylase digests carbohydrate.
B. Lipase digests fat
C. Trypsin digests protein.
The small intestine is divided into three parts:
Duodenum, Jejunum and Ileum
The food that is digested is absorbed into the blood vessels in the walls of the intestine.The finger-like projections
known as villi, drastically increase the surface area of the small intestine for greater absorption of the digested food.

Emulsification of fat :
Emulsification is the process of breaking down fat into smaller globules. So that digestive enzymes can function and
digest the food more easily.
Significance of the emulsification of fats:
1.mulsification has done by the action of bile secretes from the liver.
2.Bile contains bile pigment and bile salts.
3.Bile salts break down the fats into smaller globules and result in a milky emulsion.
4.These emulsified fats are again digested by pancreatic lipase into fatty acid and glycerol.
Thus, the fat is absorbed into the bloodstream through intestinal villi. Emulsification is necessary for the digestion and
absorption of fats

Large intestine:
The process of removal of undigested food material from the alimentary canal is called egestion.After the absorption of
nutrients in the small intestine and the large intestine, the undigested food materials move out through the anus.

The large intestine has four parts: cecum, colon, rectum, and anal canal
Rectum: An 8-inch chamber that connects the colon to the anus. The rectum receives stool from the colon, sends
signals to the brain if there is stool to be evacuated, and holds stool until evacuation can happen.

We need food to fuel our bodies for energy, growth and repair. The digestive system converts the foods we eat
into their simplest forms, like glucose (sugars), amino acids (that make up protein) or fatty acids (that
make up fats). The broken-down food is then absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine and the
nutrients are carried to each cell in the body.The digestive tract begins at the mouth and ends at the anus.
It is like a long muscular tube, up to 10 metres long, with digestive organs attached along the way.

It has two parts-

A. Digestive tract
B. Digestive glands

Digestive tract-
A. Mouth:
By crushing the food with our teeth, food is converted to generate particles, which are small and of the same
texture. The meal is also moistened to make it easier to pass through. The salivary glands secrete a fluid
known as saliva. Salivary amylase is an enzyme that breaks down starch, which is a complicated molecule,
to produce simple sugar.
The food is extensively combined with saliva and moved around the mouth by the muscular tongue when
chewing.
Dental formula:
Overall adults have 32 teeth in total, called permanent or secondary teeth, and it includes:
Eight incisors – Four incisors in the upper jaw and four incisors in the lower jaw.
Four canines – Two canines in the upper jaw and two canines in the lower jaw.
Eight premolars– Four premolars in the upper jaw and four premolars in the lower jaw.
Twelve molars- Six molars in the upper jaw and six in the lower jaw. It also includes four wisdom teeth.
Dental formula :
The dental formula for the adult human beings is 2123/2123. There are 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars
aand 3 molars in one row.

Milk teeth vs permanent teeth:

Milk teeth:
Milk teeth are the initial set of teeth that develop throughout childhood and fall out between the ages of 6
and 8 years.
Baby teeth, milk teeth, or primary teeth are collectively referred to as deciduous teeth.
Permanent teeth :
Any of the second set of teeth of a mammal that follow the milk teeth, typically persist into old age, and in
humans are 32 in number.
Adult teeth or secondary teeth are other names for permanent teeth.

# Wishdom teeth :
The last tooth to come in at the back of each side of the upper and lower jaws. These teeth usually come in
between 17 and 23 years of age, but not everyone has them. Also called third molar.

# Salivary gland:
The three main pairs of salivary glands are the parotid glands, the sublingual glands, and the
submandibular glands.
B. Pharynx: It is a part of the throat that connects the mouth to the oesophagus and nose to the larynx. It is
a muscular tube that starts behind the nose, runs down the neck. Pharynx is a common passage in both the
respiratory and digestive systems.The epiglottis is a cartilaginous flap usually upright at rest allowing air to
pass into the larynx and lungs. When a person swallows the epiglottis folds backward to cover the entrance of
the larynx so food and liquid do not enter the windpipe and lungs.

C. The food pipe or oesophagus is a long muscular tube which provides a passageway for the food from the
buccal cavity to the stomach.
The food pipe shows peristalsis which is an involuntary movement of muscles in a wave-like pattern. This
special movement helps the esophagus in carrying the food in the direction of the stomach. The food pipe or
oesophagus is divided into the following layers:

Mucosa: The inner layer

Submucosa: The layer responsible for producing secretions
Muscularis: Food is pushed down through this layer made up of muscles
Adventitia: Esophagus

D. Stomach:
The stomach of a human is located on the upper left side of the abdomen. An adult's stomach is about 10
inches (25 centimeters) long. It secrets digestive juice
A. HCl: Glands of the stomach secrets it to activate Pepsinogen enzyme and active pepsin is formed. Pepsin is
required to digest protein into Amino acid.

B. Mucus-The inside of the stomach is protected from gastric juices by a mucus lining.

C. Pepsinogen: It is activated in presence of HCL. It helps in protein digestion.

Stomach muscles perform churning movement when food enters the stomach and therefore, it combines food
and gastric juices. The semisolid part thus formed is called chyme.Here, food is converted into semi-liquid
form and protein digestion begins in the stomach. The stomach also transports food to the small intestine.

Small intestine:
The longest part of the alimentary canal is the small intestine. It is a highly coiled structure of about 7.5
meters in length. It secretes intestinal juice. It receives bile juice from the liver and pancreatic juice from the
pancreas.
Intestinal juice contains-
A. Intestinal amylase digests carbohydrate.
B. Lipase digests fat
C. Trypsin digests protein.
The small intestine is divided into three parts:
Duodenum, Jejunum and Ileum
The food that is digested is absorbed into the blood vessels in the walls of the intestine.The finger-like
projections known as villi, drastically increase the surface area of the small intestine for greater absorption
of the digested food.

Emulsification of fat :
Emulsification is the process of breaking down fat into smaller globules. So that digestive enzymes can
function and digest the food more easily.
Significance of the emulsification of fats:
1.mulsification has done by the action of bile secretes from the liver.
2.Bile contains bile pigment and bile salts.
3.Bile salts break down the fats into smaller globules and result in a milky emulsion.
4.These emulsified fats are again digested by pancreatic lipase into fatty acid and glycerol.
Thus, the fat is absorbed into the bloodstream through intestinal villi. Emulsification is necessary for the
digestion and absorption of fats

Large intestine:
The process of removal of undigested food material from the alimentary canal is called egestion.After the
absorption of nutrients in the small intestine and the large intestine, the undigested food materials move
out through the anus.

The large intestine has four parts: cecum, colon, rectum, and anal canal
Rectum: An 8-inch chamber that connects the colon to the anus. The rectum receives stool from the colon,
sends signals to the brain if there is stool to be evacuated, and holds stool until evacuation can happen.

SUMMARY
• Purpose of Food: Provides energy, supports growth, and aids in repair.
• Digestive System: Transforms food into simple forms (glucose, amino acids, fatty acids) for
absorption and cellular use.
• Digestive Tract: A muscular tube starting from the mouth to the anus, with various organs
attached.
• Main Parts: Digestive tract and digestive glands.

Digestive Tract:
• Mouth: Teeth crush food; saliva moistens it and begins starch digestion.
• Teeth: Adults have 32 permanent teeth, including incisors, canines, premolars, and molars.
• Dental Formula: Represents the types and arrangement of teeth, expressed as 2123/2123.
• Teeth Types: Milk teeth (deciduous) are first set; permanent teeth replace them.
• Wisdom Teeth: The last molars that may not appear in everyone.
• Salivary Glands: Three main pairs produce saliva for digestion.
• Pharynx: Connects mouth to esophagus; epiglottis prevents food from entering the windpipe.
• Esophagus: Muscular tube carrying food to the stomach; shows peristalsis.
• Stomach: Secretes digestive juices, including HCl to activate enzymes for protein digestion.
• Pepsinogen: Activated by HCl to aid protein digestion.
• Stomach: Churns food, mixing it with gastric juices to form chyme, initiating protein digestion.
• Small Intestine:
• Length: Approximately 7.5 meters, coiled.
• Function: Digests food with intestinal juice, bile, and pancreatic juice.
• Enzymes: Intestinal amylase (carbs), lipase (fats), trypsin (proteins).
• Parts: Duodenum, jejunum, ileum.
• Absorption: Via blood vessels in intestinal walls, increased by villi.
• Emulsification of Fats:
• Process: Bile breaks down fat into smaller globules for easier digestion.
• Outcome: Emulsified fats digested into fatty acids and glycerol, absorbed through villi.
• Large Intestine:
• Function: Egestion, removal of undigested food.
• Parts: Cecum, colon, rectum, anal canal.
• Rectum: Holds stool before evacuation.