DIGESTION AND

ABSORPTION
ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE TRACT

• GASTRO INSTESTINAL TRACT (GI

tract)- flexible and muscular tube
extending from the mouth to the
anus.
DIGESTIVE ORGANS
• MOUTH- digestion begins

• PHARYNX- a short tube that is shared

by the digestive system and the
respiratory system
DIGESTIVE ORGANS
• MOUTH TO ESOPHAGUS

• BOLUS-a mouthful of food has been swallowed

• EPIGLOTTIS- where the bolus first pass
• TRACHEA- closes off by the epiglottis during
each swallow to avoid choking
DIGESTIVE ORGANS
• Esophagus to the Mouth

• ESOPHAGUS-bolus slides down

• SPHINCTER- band of muscle, junction of stomach and

esophagus

• LOWER ESOPHAGEAL SPHINCTER- closes behind the

bolus to avoid reflux
DIGESTIVE ORGANS
• Esophagus to the Mouth

• The stomach retains the bolus for a while, adds

juices and transforms it to semi-liquid mass called
CHYME

• the stomach releases the chime to another

sphincter called PLYLORIC SPHINCTER which opens
to the small inestine
DIGESTIVE ORGANS
• SMALL INTESTINE

• At the SI, the chime passes by at the bile duct, which

secretes digestive fluids into the SI from two organs
outside the GI tract--- GALLBLADDER and PANCREAS

• Chyme travels down the SI through its three segment

( DUODENUM, JEJUNUM and ILEUM)
DIGESTIVE ORGANS
• 10 FEET – the total amount of segments
of tubing coiled within the abdomen

• Digestion is completed within the Small

Intestine
 DIGESTIVE ORGANS
• THE LARGE INTESTINE (COLON)- what remains in the
intestinal contents passes through another sphincter,
THE ILEOCECAL VALVE- into the beginning of the large
intestine (COLON)

• RECTUM- intestinal content passes, the colon withdraws

water leaving semi-solid waste.

• ANUS- the last sphincter in the system; opens to allow

the waste to pass
THE PATH THROUGH THE DIGESTIVE TRACT

• Mouth
• Esophagus
• Lower esophageal sphincter
• Stomach
• Pyloric sphincter
• Duodenum
• Ileocecal valve
• Large intestine
• Rectum
• anus
THE INVOLUNTARY MUSCLES AND GLANDS

• GASTROINTESTINAL MOTILITY- the involuntary

muscular contractions
• Once you have swallowed, materials are moved
to the GI tract by GI motility

• Consist of 2 types
• Peristalsis and segmentation
THE INVOLUNTARY MUSCLES AND GLANDS

• PERISTALSIS- Begins when the bolus enters the

esophagus
• Surrounding these rings of muscles are the
longitudinal muscles
• When the ring tighten and the long muscle relax, the
tube is constricted
• When the ring relaxes, the long muscles tighten, the
tube bulges
• Action follows continuously and push the intestinal
contents along
THE INVOLUNTARY MUSCLES AND GLANDS

• SEGMENTATION- the intestine periodically

squeeze their contents as if a string tied
around the intestines were being pulled
tight
• Mixing and promoting close contact with
the digestive juices and absorbing the
cells of the intestinal wall before letting
the contents move along again.
THE INVOLUNTARY MUSCLES AND GLANDS

• LIQUIFYING PROCESS- the mouth

initiates this liquefying process by
chewing, adding saliva and stirring with
the tongue to reduce the food to a
course mash suitable for swallowing
THE INVOLUNTARY MUSCLES AND GLANDS

• STOMACH ACTION- stomach has the thickest wall

and muscles of all the GI tract organs.

• The circular, longitudinal and the layer of

diagonal muscles that alternately contract and
relax, work to force the chyme downward
• But the pyloric sphincter remains tightly close so
that the stomach content s are thoroughly mixed
SUMMARY

• Food enters the mouth and travels down the

esophagus and through the lower esophageal
sphincter to the stomach, then through the
pyloric sphincter to the small intestine, on
throught the ileocecal valve to the large
intestine, past the appendix to the rectum,
ending at the anus.
SUMMARY
• The wavelike contractions of
peristalsis and the periodic
squeezing of segmentation keep
things moving at a reasonable pace.