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Histology NOTES BY RED

THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
• Alimentary tract – the organs where food passes
through – oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus,
stomach, small and large intestine
• Accessory organs – associated organs which
includes glands that produce secretions important in
the process of digestion – salivary glands, liver,
pancreas

ALIMENTARY CANAL AND ACCESSORY ORGANS

PRIMARY/DECIDUOUS/MILK TEETH
– 20 all in all
PERMANENT/ADULT TEETH
- 32 all in all

SALIVARY GLANDS
Three major salivary glands that contribute to the formation
of saliva
• PAROTID GLAND – located in each cheek in
FUNCTIONS front of the ears, PURELY SEROUS
• Ingestion -introduction of food and liquid into the • SUBMANDIBULAR GLAND – located beneath
oral cavity; the lower jaw, MIXED BUT MOSTLY SEROUS
• Mastication -chewing, which divides solid food into • SUBLINGUAL GLAND – located beneath the
digestible pieces; tongue, MIXED BUT MOSTLY MUCOUS
• Motility - muscular movements of materials through
the tract;
• Secretion of lubricating and protective mucus,
digestive enzymes, acidic and alkaline fluids, and
bile;
• Hormone release for local control of motility and
secretion
• Chemical digestion or enzymatic degradation of
large macromolecules in food to smaller molecules
and their subunits
• Absorption of the small molecules and water into
the blood and lymph;
• Elimination of indigestible, unabsorbed
components of food

ORAL CAVITY
MOUTH – Vestibule and Oral Cavity Proper (contains tongue
and teeth)
LIPS – fleshy folds in the opening
TONGUE – is located in the floor of
mouth, site of ingestion and mastication
TEETH – Two types
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PHARYNX
• Nasopharynx – the posterior part of the nasal
cavity
• Lining epithelium: Pseudostratified columnar
ciliated epithelium
• Oropharynx – caudally continuous to the
nasopharynx,
• throat, posterior part of the oral cavity
• Lining epithelium: Stratified squamous epithelium,
non-keratinized
• Laryngopharynx – most inferior part of the
pharynx,
• posterior to the larynx
• Lining epithelium - Pseudostratified columnar
ciliated epithelium,
• Stratified squamous epithelium, non-keratinized

ESOPHAGUS
• “Gullet”,muscular tube, about 25-cm long in adults
FUNCTION:
• transports swallowed material from the pharynx to
the stomach
• Mucosa: STRATIFIED SQUAMOUS NON-
KERARTINIZED
• Submucosa: ESOPHAGEAL GLANDS – produce
mucus
Muscularis Externa:
Upper one-third: muscularis is exclusively skeletal muscle
Middle portion: combination of skeletal and smooth muscle
fibers
Lower third: muscularis is exclusively smooth muscle
LAYERS OF THE ALIMENTARY • Serosa: only the distal 1 – 2 cm is covered
TRACT
• MUCOSA – lining epithelium, lamina propria STOMACH
(loose connective tissue rich in blood vessels, • Cardia
lymphatics, lymphocytes, smooth muscle cells, and • transitional zone between the esophagus and the
often containing small glands), muscularis stomach
mucosae (smooth muscle) • Fundus and Body
• SUBMUCOSA – contains denser connective tissue o are identical in microscopic structure
with larger blood and lymph vessels and the o sites of gastric glands releasing acidic
submucosal Meissner plexus of autonomic nerves. gastric juice
It may also contain glands and significant lymphoid • Pylorus
tissue o funnel-shaped region that opens into
• MUSCULARIS/MUSCUCLARIS EXTERNA – o the small intestine
smooth muscles – TWO LAYERS arranged ICOL – o involved with mucus production and are
INNER CIRCULAR, OUTER LONGITUDINAL histologically similar (cardia and pylorus)
• SEROSA - a thin sheet of loose connective tissue, FUNCTIONS:
rich in blood vessels, lymphatics, and adipose o Mixing and churning of the food into chyme
tissue, and covered with a simple squamous o Initial digestion of protein and lipids,
covering epithelium or mesothelium continuation of
o Carbohydrates digestion
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MUCOSA:
• SIMPLE COLUMNAR EPITHELIUM with gastric pits
SMALL INTESTINE
• Three parts: Duodenum, Jejunum and Ileum –
• Contains Surface Mucous Cells – produce MUCUS,
LONGEST
Stem cells – undergo mitosis
• Contains PLICAE CIRCULARES – folds found in
• Lamina Propria – connective tissue, smooth muscle intestines
fibers, lymphoid tissue and lymphatics • Function: Digestion of food, absorption of nutrients
• Muscularis Mucosae – smooth muscles and water
Abundant GASTRIC GLANDS made up of the following
cells:
• MUCOUS NECK CELLS – mucus
• PARIETAL CELLS – HCl acid and INTRINSIC
FACTOR (Vitamin B12)
• CHIEF CELLS – pepsinogen for protein digestion
• ENTEROENDOCRINE CELLS - hormones

• SUBMUCOSA: connective tissue, blood

vessels, lymphatic vessels, immune cells
• MUSCULARIS EXTERNA: smooth muscles.
OUTER LONGITUDINAL, MIDDLE
CIRCULAR, INNER OBLIQUE
• SEROSA: covered by a thin serosa
• MUCOSA – Simple Columnar Epithelium
• Crypts of Lieberkuhn or Intestinal Crypts – opening
of tubular glands that contain the following cells:
– Villi and Enterocytes – ABSORPTIVE CELLS,
– Goblet cells – produce MUCUS
– Paneth cells – lysozyme and enzymes for immunity
– Enteroendocrine cells – peptide hormones
– M cells – ONLY FOUND IN Peyer’s Patches of the
ILEUM
– Lamina Propria – connective tissue, extensive blood
supply and lymphatics, PEYER’S PATCHES
– Muscularis Mucosae – smooth muscle
• SUBMUCOSA – larger blood vessels and
lymphatics
• Meissner’s Plexus
• ONLY IN DUODENUM – Brunner’s Glands –
alkaline secretion
• ONLY IN ILEUM – Peyer’s Patches
• MUSCULARIS – smooth muscles – INNER
CIRCULAR,
• OUTER LONGITUDINAL – ICOL
• Auerbach’s Plexus
• SEROSA – thin sheath of mesothelium continuous
with the mesentery
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LARGE INTESTINE
• Regions include Cecum where the appendix
attaches,
• Ascending, Transverse, Descending, Sigmoid,
Rectum and Anus (temporary storage of feces)
• Larger in diameter but shorter in length
• FUNCTION: Absorption of water and salts like Na
• MUCOSA – Simple Columnar Epithelium
• Absence of villi or plicae circulares
• Presence of haustras (sacs)
• Mucosa is penetrated by INTESTINAL GLANDS
with the following cells
• ENTEROCYTES – absorptive cells
• GOBLET CELLS – mucus
• Lamina Propria – rich in lymphoid tissue
• Muscularis Mucosae – SMOOTH MUSCLE
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• Peripherally each lobule has three to six portal
LIVER areas with more fibrous connective tissue with
• the largest internal organ and gland, in adults
interlobular structures – PORTAL TRIADS:
averaging about 1.5 kg or 2% of the body weight,
• A venule branch of the portal vein with blood rich
second largest organ in body
in nutrients but low in O2 .
• Located in the right upper quadrant of the
• An arteriole branch of the hepatic artery, which
abdomen just below the diaphragm
supplies O2 .
• Has major left and right lobes with two smaller
• One or two small bile ductules of cuboidal
inferior lobes, most of which are covered by a thin
epithelium, branches of the bile conducting system
capsule and mesothelium of the visceral
peritoneum.
• The capsule thickens at the hilum (or porta
hepatis) on the inferior side, where the dual blood
supply from the hepatic portal vein and hepatic
artery enters the organ and where the hepatic
vein, lymphatics, and common hepatic (bile)
duct exit.

HEPATIC LOBULE
• Sinusoids
• found between all of the anastomosing plates of
hepatocytes of a hepatic lobule that emerge from
the peripheral branches of the portal vein and
hepatic artery that mix and converge on the lobule’s
central vein.
• have thin, discontinuous linings of fenestrated
endothelial cells surrounded by sparse basal lamina
and reticular fibers and are irregular
• Space of Disse
• a narrow perisinusoidal space formed from the
LIVER FUNCTION discontinuities and fenestrations that allow plasma
• Production of Bile - for fat digestion to fill and directly bathe the many irregular microvilli
• Synthesis and endocrine secretion into the projecting from the hepatocytes into this space.
blood of the major plasma proteins - albumins,
fibrinogen, apolipoproteins, transferrin, and many HEPATIC SINUSOID CELLS
others • Stellate macrophages (Kupffer cells) are found
• Conversion of amino acids into glucose within the sinusoid lining and recognize and
(gluconeogenesis); phagocytose aged erythrocytes, freeing heme and
• Breakdown (detoxification) and conjugation of iron for reuse or storage in ferritin complexes.
ingested toxins - drugs • antigen-presenting cells and remove any bacteria
• Amino acid deamination - producing urea or debris present in the portal blood
removed from blood in kidneys; • Hepatic stellate cells (or Ito cells) with small lipid
• Storage of glucose in glycogen granules and droplets, which store vitamin A and other fat-soluble
triglycerides in small lipid droplets; vitamins
• Storage of vitamin A (in hepatic stellate cells) and • These mesenchymal cells also produce
other fat-soluble vitamins; extracellular matrix (ECM) components
• Removal of effete erythrocytes by specialized (becoming myofibroblasts after liver injury) and
macrophage - Kupffer cells cytokines that help regulate Kupffer cell activity;
• Storage of iron in complexes with the protein difficult to see in routine preparations
ferritin
LIVER TISSUE
• Large cuboidal or polyhedral epithelial cells, with
large, round central nuclei and eosinophilic
cytoplasm rich in mitochondria.
• frequently binucleated and about 50% of them are
polyploid, with two to eight times the normal
chromosome number.
• Irregular plates that are formed by hepatocytes
arranged radially around a small central vein that’s
supported by a delicate stroma of reticulin fibers
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HEPATIC CELLS AND LOBULES