DIGESTION

dr. Winarsi
The gastrointestinal tract is in essence, a continous mucous
membrane line tube extending from the oral cavity to the anus.
In health, with the single exception of the entry of the common
bile duct into the jejenum, the wall of this cylinder constitutes a
continuous barrier.

Absorption of materials from the gut into the rest of the body, normally
takes place only by transfer across biologic membranes.
Living organisms need hexoses, amino acids and fatty acids not only
as fuels to generate ATP, but also as building blocks to make
macromolecules.

For the most part, the food we eat consists of very large molecules
like polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids and triacylglycerols. Such
molecules cannot be efficiently transferred across the gut membrane
barrier. Instead, it is necessary to cleave these macromolecules into
their monomeric building blocks for them to be absorbed by the
organisms. The process by which this is accomplished is called
digestion.
These ingested macromolecules (polymers) have to be broken down to
monomers before they can be absorbed and made available to all cells
of the body.
The complete process from food intake to absorption of nutrient into the
blood consists of a complicated sequence of events.
Digestion of fat poses a
physicochemical problem because they are nonpolar compounds in an
aqueous environment. To solve this problem, the liver secretes bile salts
into the intestinal tract, which by virtue of their detergent action,
facilitates attack by lipolytic enzymes on fats.

Monomers gaining entrance into the bloodstream include amino acids,

hexoses, pentoses, fatty acids, glycerol, and purines and pyrimidine.
Certain mechanical actions like the chewing of food and the churning
actions of the stomach and small and large intestines aid the enzymes
in cleaving the chemical bonds that hold the macromulecules together.

Both the autonomic nervous system and complicated hormonal

interactions exert important controlling effects on gastrointestinal mixing
and propulsive actions.
At the conclusion of the digestion and absorption of a meal, indigestable
materials remaining accompanied by billions of bacteria from the lower
gastrointestinal tract pass out as feces.
Sequence of events includes:

1.Mechanical homogenization of food and mixing of

ingested solids with fluids secreted by the glands of the
gastrointestinal tract.
2.Secretion of digestive enzymes that hydrolyze
macromolecules to oligomers, dimers, or monomers.
3.Secretion electrolytes, acid, or base to provide an
approproate environment for optimal enzymatic
digestion.
4.Secretion of bile acids as detergents to solubilize lipids
and facilitate their absorption.
5.Hydrolysis of nutrient oligomers and dimers by
enzymes on the intestinal surface.
6.Transport of nutrient molecules and of electrolytes
from the intestinal lumen across the epithelial cells into
blood or lymph.
To accomplish these function, the gastrointestinal tract contain
specialized glands and surface epithelia.
Organ Major Function in Digestion and Absorption
_____________________________________________________

Salivary glands Elaboration of fluid and digestive enzymes

Stomach Elaboration of HCl and proteases
Pancreas Elaboration of NaHCO3 and enzymes for intraluminal digestion
Liver Elaboration of bile acids
Gallbladder Storage and concentration of bile
Small intestine Terminal digestion of food, absorption of nutrients and electrolytes
Large intestine Absorption of electrolytes
________________________________________________________
Pancreas supplied enzymes for intestinal digestion.

Pancreas is the major organ that synthesizes

and secretes the large amounts of enzymes
needed for digestion. However, pancreatic
enzymes cannot completely digest all nutrients
to forms that can be absorbed.

A substantional portion of carbohydrate and

amino acids are present as dimers and
oligomers that depend for final digestion on
enzymes present on luminal surface or within
the main epithelial cells that line the lumen of
the small intestine (enterocytes).
Digestive enzymes are secreted as proenzymes.

Salivary glands, gastric mucosa, and pancreas

contained specialized cells (exocrine) that
synthesize and store digestive enzymes (as
proenzymes) until the enzymes are needed
during a meal. The enzymes are then released
into the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract by
exocytosis, and the activation of proenzymes
occurs only after they are released from the cells.
Oral cavity

Saliva is secreted by the salivary glands.

Salivary amylase is capable to hydrolyze
polysaccharides (starch and glycogen) to
maltose (little significance because of the
short time).
This
enzyme is inactivated at pH of 4,0 or less.
Stomach

The gastric secretion is known as gastric juice; it is a pale yellow

fluid of 0.2-0.5% HCl with a pH of about 1.0.
The digestive enzymes include pepsin, rennin and
lipase.
The source of HCl is the parietal cells. HCl denatures protein
(destruction of hydrogen bonds, unfold the polypeptide chain,
making it more easily to be digest) and has the effect of destroying
most microorganism entering the stonach.

Pepsin is the major digestive function of the stomach. This enzyme

is produced in the chief cells as the inactive zymogen, pepsinogen.
This is activated to pepsin by H ion, which splits off a protective
polypeptide to expose active pepsin and by pepsin (autocatalysis).
Pepsin is an endopeptidase with optimal pH about 1-2.
Rennin coagulates milk in infants so that it prevents the rapid
passage of milk from the stomach.
Gastric lipase initiate lipid digestion by hydrolyzing triacylglycerol.
This enzyme is destroyed at low pH.
Small intestine (duodenum, jejenum, ileum)

Pancreatic and biliary secretions enter into

duodenum and their alkaline content
neutralizes the acid chyme.
The liver, by producing bile, plays an important
role in digestion.
The gallblader
stores the bile, and during digestion it contracts
and supplies bile to duodenum by way of the
common bile duct; the pancreatic secretions
mix with the bile, since they empty into the
common duct shortly before its entry into the
duodenum.
Bile.

Composition of bile: water, bile acids (mainly

cholic acids), mucin, bile pigments (bilirubin
and biliverdin), cholesterol, esterified and non-
esterified fatty acids, inorganic salts.
Properties and function of bile:
1. Emulsification.
2. Neutralization of acid.
3. Excretion.
4. Absorption of hydrophobic substances.
Pancreas as exocrine.
Pancreatic secretion contains water, enzymes, organic and
inorganic compounds (mainly ions of Na, K, HCO3-, Cl and in
smaller amounts are ions of Ca, Zn, HPO4, and SO4).
Many enzymes are found in pancreatic secretion.
1.Proteolytic enzymes are secreted as
zymogens/proenzymes; trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase are
endopeptidases and carboxypeptidase is exopeptidase.
Trypsin has autocatalysis characteristic and also can activate
the other proteases.
2.Amylase hydrolyze starch and glycogen.
3.Lipase hydrolyze the primary ester link of triacylglycerols;
colipase is its cofactor.
Phospholipase A2 hydrolyse phospholipid to lysophospholipid.
Cholesteryl ester hydrolase/cholesterol esterase catalyzes the
hydrolysis of cholesteryl ester
free cholesterol + fatty acids.
4.Ribonuclease (RNase) and deoxyribonuclease (DNase) are
responsible for the digestion of dietary nucleic acid.
Intestinal secretions complete the digestive process.
The intestinal juice secreted by the glands of Brunner and
Lieberkuhn contains digestive enzymes including the
following:

Aminopeptidase, is an exopeptidase; dipeptidase

complete digestion of dipeptides to free amino acids.
Specific disaccharidase (maltase, lactase, sucrase).
Phophastase removes phosphate from certain organic
phosphate.
Polynucleotidases split nucleic acids into nucleotides.
Nucleosidases catalyze the phosphorolysis of
nucleosides into free nitrogen base plus a pentose
phosphate.
Phospholipase catalyze phospholipids to produce
glycerol, fatty acids, phosphoric acid and bases such as
choline.
Absorption from the gastrointestinal tract result
in passage of nutrient into hepatic vein or
lymphatic.

Carbohydrates are absorbed as

monosaccharides.
The products of lipid digestion are absorbed
from bile salt micelles.
The products of protein digestion are absorbed
as individual amino acids.
Large intestine

Bacteria in the large intestine cause putrefaction

and fermentation.
Most ingested food is absorbed from the small
intestine.
The
residu passes into the large intestine.
Considerable absorption of water takes place in
the large intestine and the semiliquid intestinal
contents gradually become more solid and during
this period fermentation and putrefaction occur,
producing various gases and compounds
(ptomaine, neurine, indole, skatol, ammonia).
SEKIAN