HOW DO ANIMALS

SURVIVE?
 Plants produce their own food in a process
called photosynthesis, during which they use
sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into
simple sugars.
 But animals, including humans, must
take in food in the form of organic matter,
such as plants or other animals.
HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
(alimentary canal)
 PRIMARY FUNCTIONS
*Breakdown of food
(digestion)
*Absorption of nutrients
NUTRITION: Getting food to
cells
 The major dietary
requirements for animals are
carbohydrates, fats, and
proteins as well as vitamins,
minerals and water.
Digestion - the process of breaking
down food into smaller particles so
that these can pass through cells.

Carbohydrates are changed into

monosaccharides (simple sugars)
proteins are changed to amino
acids
fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
Nutrition fact labels – serving
size, number of servings per
container.
Kilocalorie (kcal/Cal) –
quantities of nutrients per
serving.
2000 to 2500 kcal –
recommended daily intake
05/16/23
05/16/23
PROCESS OF
DIGESTION
 5 Basic Activities:
1.Ingestion (taking in of food into the body)
2.Peristalsis (pushing of food along the
digestive tract)
3.Digestion (breakdown of food, mechanical
and chemical)
4.Absorption (digested food to cardiovascular
and lymphatic to cells)
5.Defecation (elimination from the body).
MOUTH
-Initial digestion takes
place.
-Teeth break the food
into smaller particles
(mastication).
-Salivary amylase
(ptyalin) moistens the
food and hastens the
breakdown of starch
into sugar.
 PHARYNX
- Passageway
leading from the
mouth and nose to
the esophagus and
larynx.
Therefore, while
swallowing food, a
person is advised not
to talk.
 This is explained physiologically by the
opening of the flap of tissue covering the trachea,
the epiglottis, while one talks. This results in
food entering the trachea instead of the
esophagus, thus causing choking.
 ESOPHAGUS
Receives food from mouth during swallowing
and delivers food to the stomach. The tongue helps
push the food down the esophagus. When food
passes through the esophagus, it is called bolus.
 STOMACH
Holds the food while it is being mixed with enzymes to
break down into usable form.
Peristalsis is a wavelike involuntary muscle contraction that
controls the one-way movement of food. Food that passes
the stomach is now called chyme.
 Because of peristalsis, we can swallow
lying down or even standing on our heads; and
astronauts are able to eat in near zero-gravity
or under weightless conditions.
 Gastric acid, also called gastric
juice or hydrochloric acid, is a digestive fluid,
formed in the stomach. The acid plays a key role
in digestion of proteins.
The chyme leaves the
stomach through pyloric
sphincter and enters small
intestine.
 LIVER AND GALLBLADDER
Liver produces bile, which is stored in the
gallbladder before entering the small intestine
where fats are emulsified; detoxifies the blood by
removing poisonous metabolites.
 PANCREAS
-elongated gland behind the stomach which
secretes pancreatic enzymes and hormones insulin
and glucagon which regulate blood glucose.
 SMALL INTESTINE
Major organ of digestion and
absorption of nutrients.
Final digestion of food starts
in the duodenum.
Final chemical digestion and
nutrient absorption takes
place in the jejunum.
Final absorption of digested
food occurs in the ileum.
The inner walls of the small intestines
bear a series of transverse folds called
villi.
This increases the surface area for
digestion and absorption in the small
intestines.
 LARGE
Chyme not absorbed in the small
INTESTINE/COLON
intestine enters the large intestine
where reabsorption of water occurs.
 A large flora of harmless bacteria are
found in the large intestines. Many of which
generates gases, such as methane and
hydrogen sulfide, that gives the distinctive
foul smell of feces.
The movement of feces along the colon takes
about 12-24 hours.
The remains are now called stool or
feces, which will be stored in the rectum
then excreted to the anus.
HOW DO YOU KNOW
THAT YOU ARE
HUNGRY?
 Hunger is controlled by the hunger center
situated in the hypothalamus of the brain. This
center is stimulated by low blood glucose level
which occurs when the intestine is no longer
absorbing food.
 After eating, when the blood glucose level is
high, the satiety center also in the hypothalamus,
is affected and you feel satisfied.
 HISTOLOGY
The walls of the
alimentary canal
(esophagus to anal
canal) have the same
arrangement of tissue
layers (coats or tunics).
4 major tunics:
1.Tunica mucosa
(innermost) – protection,
secretion, absorption
2.Tunica submucosa
3.Tunica muscularis –
voluntary, contains plexus
of Auerbach
4.Tunica adventitia or
serosa (outermost) –
visceral peritoneum
Mesentery – extension of visceral
peritoneum
 MOUTH OR ORAL CAVITY
Buccal cavity

roof – hard and soft

palates
Floor – tongue
Sides – cheeks
Outside – covered by
skin
Inside – covered by
mucous membrane
 LIPS
Fleshy folds that
surround the opening or
orifice of the mouth.
During chewing of food,
the lips and cheeks keep
food between upper and
lower teeth.
Assist in speech.
HARD (BONY) PALATE
-Anterior part
SOFT (MUSCULAR)
PALATE
-Posterior portion
UVULA
-cone-shaped muscular
structure
-Prevents food from
backing up into the nasal
area
 TONGUE
Lingual frenulum –
septum that divide the
tongue into halves
Papillae – projections in
upper surface and sides of
tongue
-Filiform papillae (front)
-Fungiform papillae
-Circumvallate papillae
SALIVARY GLANDS

1.Parotid
2.Submandibular
3.Sublingual
Saliva is 99.5% water (dissolving foods) and 0.5%
solutes:
Chlorides activate the salivary enzyme amylase
Amylase initiates breakdown of complex carbohydrates
Bicarb and phosphates, which are buffer chemicals
keep the saliva slightly acidic pH
Urea and uric acid are waste products
Mucin forms mucus to
lubricate food
Enzyme lysozyme destroys
bacteria, protection from
infection, prevent tooth
decay
MUMPS
-Caused by a virus that infects
salivary glands, affects children ages 5
to 9.
-Virus may infect the testes, causing
sterility.
TEETH
Also known as dentes
Located in the sockets of
the alveolar processes of
mandible and maxillae
bones.
Chewing=mastication
20 temporary or deciduous teeth –
infants to 2 years
32 permanent teeth – aged 13

Incisors (8 front teeth) – cut food

Canine teeth – tear food
Molar teeth – grind food
 Parts of a Tooth:
Crown – covered with enamel, hardest
substance
Cervix or neck
Root – 1-3 projections embedded in a
socket
*Teeth are made up of dentin, a
bonelike substance that encloses the
pulp cavity in the crown.
Apical foramen – blood vessels and
nerves enter the tooth
Cementum –covered the dentin of the
root
 PHARYNX
-Begin the
process of
swallowing
(deglutition)
Oropharynx
(voluntary)
Nasopharynx
 ESOPHAGUS
Collapsible, muscular tube
that is situated behind the
trachea or windpipe.
Begins at laryngopharynx,
passes through
mediastinum, diaphragm
through esophageal hiatus
- Transport food to the
stomach
Lower esophageal (gastroesophageal)
sphincter – connects esophagus to
stomach
Hiatal hernia – caused
by widening of
esophageal hiatus.
Major symptom is
gastroesophageal
reflux or acid reflux,
the backflow of the
acidic contents of the
stomach into esophagus.
Also called heartburn.
 STOMACH
Enlargement of
gastrointestinal tract.
4 parts:
•Cardia (surrounds
gastroesophageal sphincter)
•Fundus (rounded portion)
•Body
•Pylorus or antrum
When there is no food in the
stomach, mucosa lies in large folds
called rugae.
As the stomach fills, the rugae
smooth out and disappear.
SECRETING CELLS IN THE STOMACH:
1.Zymogenic or chief cells – secrete gastric
enzyme pepsinogen.
2.Parietal cells – secrete hydrochloric acid,
which activates pepsinogen to become pepsin
(enzyme that begins to break down protein)
3.Mucous cells – mucus

Gastric juice
Muscularis coat of stomach:
Inner oblique
Middle circular
Outer longitudinal
- Allows stomach to contract
Ulcers occur when the
hydrochloric acid and
digestive enzymes erode
the layers of the stomach
or duodenum.
Helicobacter pylori is
associated with stomach
or peptic ulcers.
Antibiotics are
administered for
treatment.
 PANCREAS

-soft, oblong gland found

beneath the great
curvature of stomach
-Connected by a duct to
the duodenum of small
intestine
Islets of Langerhans (pancreatic islets) –
endocrine
*Alpha cells – glucagon
*Beta cells – insulin
Acini – exocrine, release a mixture of
lipases, carbohydrases and proteases
(pancreatic juice)
Pancreatic duct or duct of Wirsung
Ampulla of Vater (hepatopancreatic
ampulla)
Acini secrete enzymes
for digestion of food in
the small intestine.
Alpha and beta cells
secrete hormones
glucagon and insulin
which regulate and
control blood sugar
levels.
-One of the largest organs
of the digestive system.
Approximately 4 pounds.
Right and left lobe,
separated by falciform
ligament
Lobules – functional units

LIVER
 Major functions:
1.Manufactures heparin (coagulant) and most of the other
plasma proteins such as prothrombin and thrombin – involved
in blood clotting.
2.Kupffer cells of the liver phagocytose certain bacteria and
old, wornout WBC and RBC
3.Liver cells contain various enzymes that break down
poisonous substances into less harmful substances. Converts
ammonia to urea.
4.Excess glucose and other monosaccharides can be stored as
glycogen or converted to fat.
5.Stores glycogen, copper and iron, as well as vitamins ADEK
6.Produces bile salts that break down fats.
-Pear-shaped sac about 3 to 4 inches long
located in a depression of the surface of the
liver.
Stores and concentrates bile produced by the
liver lobules until needed in the small intestine.
Enters duodenum through bile duct.

GALLBLADDER
-Major portion of
absorption and digestion
occurs.
Duodenum – shortest,
originates at pyloric
sphincter
Jejunum
Ileum – joins large
intestine at the
ileocecal valve
(sphincter) SMALL INTESTINE
Crypts of Lieberkuhn (intestinal glands) – secrete
digestive enzymes that supplement the bulk of the
digestive enzymes secreted by the liver and pancreas.
Brunner’s glands (duodenal gland) – secrete alkaline
mucus
Plicae – folds in the walls of small intestine
Villi - projections
The structure of each
villus contains a
capillary network where
blood picks up nutrients,
a venule to transport
nutrients and arteriole
and lacteal to pick up
fats.
-Absorption of water
-Manufacturing and
absorption of certain
vitamins
-Formation and
expulsion of feces

4 regions:
Cecum (pouchlike)
Colon LARGE
Rectum INTESTINE
Anal canal
The opening from the
ileum of the small
intestine into the
cecum of the large
intestine is known as
the ileocecal valve.
Vermiform appendix
 COLON
Haustrae (pouches)
1.Ascending colon –
turns to the right colic
(hepatic) flexure
2.Transverse colon –
turns to the left colic
(splenic) flexure
3.Descending colon
4.Sigmoid colon – where
colon joins the rectum
3 Mechanical Movements:
Haustral churning
Peristalsis
Mass peristalsis

Anus – guarded by internal

sphincter of smooth muscle
and external sphincter of
skeletal muscle.
Important functions of large intestine:

*Absorption of water
* Bacteria in the colon manufacture
vitamin K (clotting), biotin (glucose
metabolism), vitamin B5 (make certain
hormones and neurotransmitters)
COMMON DIGESTIVE
DISORDERS
Hepatitis
Inflammation of the liver caused
by excessive alcohol consumption
or virus infection.
 Cirrhosis
Long-term degenerative disease of the liver,
common result of chronic alcohol abuse.
Gallstones
Cholesterol is
secreted by the
liver into the bile.
When the
cholesterol
precipitates in the
gallbladder, it
produces gallstones.
Appendicitis
Inflammation of vermiform appendix caused
by an obstruction. More common in
teenagers and young adults and more
frequent in males.
Crohn’s disease
Chronic inflammatory bowel
disease (unknown origin)
Colorectal cancer
Cancer of large intestine and
rectum
Hemorrhoids
Inflammation and enlargement of
rectal veins.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD
)

*COMMON DIGESTIVE
DISORDERS
Constipation
Diarrhea
Literally means flowing through.