DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION PART-1: ANATOMY OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

         In this post, we are going to discuss the anatomy of Digestive systems on brief accounts. 

         Food is one of the basic requirements of all living organisms which provides us with energy and organic materials in order to survive. The major components of our food are carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Vitamins and minerals are also required in small quantities. The water we take in, plays an important role in metabolic processes and also prevents dehydration of the body. Biomacromolecules in food cannot be utilised by our body in their original form. They have to be broken down and converted into simple substances in the digestive system. This process of conversion of complex food substances to simple absorbable forms is called digestion and is carried out by our digestive system by mechanical and biochemical methods.

Components of Digestive system :

          Our digestive system is consists of mainly two parts named - i) Alimentary Canal 

                 ii) Associated Glands

Alimentary Canal :

Oral Cavity :

•The alimentary canal begins with an anterior opening – the mouth, and it opens out posteriorly through the anus. 

 •The mouth leads to the buccal

cavity or oral cavity.

•The oral cavity has a number of teeth and a muscular tongue. 

•the properties of teeth are as follows -

i)Each tooth is embedded in a socket of jaw bone. This type of attachment is called thecodont. ii)Majority of mammals including human being forms two sets of teeth during their life, a set of temporary milk or deciduous teeth replaced by a set of permanent or adult teeth. This type of dentition is called diphyodont. 

iii)An adult human has 32 permanent teeth which are of four different types (Heterodont

dentition), namely, incisors (I), canine (C), premolars (PM) and molars (M).

iv)Arrangement of teeth in each half of the upper and lower jaw in the order I, C, PM, M is represented by a dental formula which in human is -

2123

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2123

v)The hard chewing surface of the teeth, made up of enamel, helps in the mastication of food. 

•The tongue is a freely movable muscular organ attached to the floor of the oral cavity by the frenulum. 

•The upper surface

of the tongue has small projections called papillae, some of which bear

taste buds.

Oesophagus :

•The oral cavity leads into a short pharynx which serves as a common passage for food and air. 

•The oesophagus and the trachea (wind pipe) open into the pharynx.

•A cartilaginous flap called epiglottis prevents the

entry of food into the glottis – opening of the wind pipe – during swallowing.

•The oesophagus is a thin, long tube which extends posteriorly passing through the neck, thorax and diaphragm and leads to stomach

Stomach :

•Oesophagus leads to a ‘J’ shaped bag like structure called stomach.

•A muscular sphincter (gastro-oesophageal) regulates the

opening of oesophagus into the stomach.

•The stomach, located in the upper left portion of the abdominal cavity, has four major parts – a cardiac portion into which the oesophagus opens,a fundic region, body (main central region) and a pyloric portion which opens into the first part of small intestine.

Small Intestine :

•Small intestine is distinguishable into three regions, a ‘C’ shaped duodenum, a long coiled middle

portion jejunum and a highly coiled ileum.

•The opening of the stomach into the duodenum is guarded by the pyloric sphincter.

•Ileum opens into the large intestine.

Large Intestine :

•Large intestine consists of caecum, colon and rectum.

•Caecum is a small blind sac which hosts some symbiotic micro-organisms. 

•A narrow finger-like tubular projection, the vermiform appendix which is a vestigial

organ, arises from the caecum. 

•The caecum opens into the colon. 

•The colon is divided into four parts – an ascending, a transverse, descending part and a sigmoid colon.

 •The descending part opens into the rectum which opens out through the anus.

Histology of Gut :

•The wall of alimentary canal from oesophagus to rectum possesses four layers namely serosa, muscularis,

sub-mucosa and mucosa.

•Serosa is the outermost layer and is made up of a thin

mesothelium (epithelium of visceral organs)

with some connective tissues. •Muscularis is formed by smooth muscles usually

arranged into an inner circular and an outer longitudinal layer.

•An oblique muscle layer may be present in some regions. 

•The sub￾mucosal layer is formed of loose connective

tissues containing nerves, blood and lymph vessels. 

•In duodenum, glands are also

present in sub-mucosa. 

•The innermost layer lining the lumen of the alimentary canal is the mucosa. 

•This layer forms irregular folds (rugae) in the stomach and

small finger-like foldings called villi in the small intestine. 

•The cells lining the villi produce numerous microscopic projections called microvilli giving a brush border

appearance. 

•These modifications increase the surface area enormously.

•Villi are supplied with a network of capillaries and a large lymph vessel called the lacteal. 

•Mucosal epithelium has goblet

cells which secrete mucus that help in lubrication.

•Mucosa also forms glands in the stomach (gastric

glands) and crypts in between the bases of villi in

the intestine (crypts of Lieberkuhn). 

•All the four layers show modifications in different parts of the alimentary canal.

Associated Glands :

The digestive glands associated with the alimentary canal include the salivary glands, the

liver and the pancreas.

Salivary glands :

•Saliva is mainly produced by three pairs of

salivary glands, the parotids (cheek), the sub￾maxillary/sub-mandibular (lower jaw) and the

sub- linguals (below the tongue). •These glands situated just outside the buccal cavity secrete salivary juice into the buccal cavity.

Liver :

•Liver is the largest gland of the body weighing about 1.2 to 1.5 kg in an adult human.

•It is situated in the abdominal cavity, just below the

diaphragm and has two lobes.

•The hepatic lobules are the structural and functional units of liver containing hepatic cells arranged in the form of cords.

•Each lobule is covered by a thin connective tissue sheath called

the Glisson’s capsule. 

Gall bladder :

•The bile secreted by the hepatic cells passes through

the hepatic ducts and is stored and concentrated in a thin muscular sac

called the gall bladder. 

•The duct of gall bladder (cystic duct) along with the hepatic duct from the liver forms the common bile duct.

•The bile duct and the pancreatic duct open together into the duodenum as the common hepato-pancreatic duct which is guarded by a sphincter

called the sphincter of Oddi.

Pancreas :

•The pancreas is a compound (both exocrine and endocrine) elongated organ situated between the limbs of the ‘C’ shaped duodenum. 

•The exocrine portion secretes an alkaline pancreatic juice containing enzymes and the endocrine portion secretes hormones, insulin and glucagon

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