Unit 4: STRUCTURE

AND FUNCTIONS
OF THE DIGESTIVE
SYSTEM

Prepared by: Cherie Nel G. P

• Without food, water and oxygen, human
beings could not survive.
• The digestive system is a set of organs
which change what we eat into
substances that can be used in the
body.
• These substances can be used for
energy, growth and repair.
 THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
• The alimentary canal is a
tube that runs from the
mouth to the anus.
• It is composed of the mouth,
esophagus, stomach, small
intestine and the large
intestine.
• As food passes through the
alimentary canal it is
changed and the
nourishment is taken into
the blood.
• Waste passes out the end of
the canal.
• Certain organs and glands
add juices to the canal at
various points.
 Mouth
1. Chemical digestion (amylase
Oesophagus converts starch to maltose)
2. Physical digestion (teeth break
connects mouth to
food down into smaller pieces)
stomach
Liver Stomach
produces bile for 1. Holds the food for a while
the digestion of 2. Physical digestion (food is
fats churned and mixed)
3. Chemical digestion (assisted
by HCl)

Gall stores bile Small Intestine

1. Chemical digestion
bladder
2. Absorption of nutrients
into blood
Pancreas Large Intestine
produces digestive
juices (colon)
1. Elimination of waste
Appendix
2. Absorption of water

Anus Rectum
Stores faeces
 Food can be broken down (digested) in
one of two ways:
1. Physical Digestion
This is where large pieces of food are
broken down into smaller pieces of the
same food
2. Chemical Digestion
This is where food is broken down into a
different substance that can easily pass
into the blood
 Mouth
• The food is broken down by the
teeth and mixed with saliva.
• Saliva is excreted by three
pairs of glands:
• The parotid gland (below the
ear)
• The submandibular (under the
jaw)
• The sublingual (under the
tongue)
• Saliva contains water, mucus
and the enzyme salivary
amylase.
 Functions of Saliva
• It lubricates food with mucus, making it
easier to swallow.
• It contains the enzyme salivary amylase,
which acts on cooked starch turning some
of it into maltose.
• It keeps the mouth and teeth clean.
• The ball of food that leaves the mouth is
known as a bolus.
 Functions of the Tongue

• Taste: it is covered with thousands of taste buds.

These are sensitive to salt, sweet, sour and
bitter chemicals in food and drink.
They help us enjoy food and drink and warn us
when food, drink are off or inedible.
• Chewing: the tongue aids chewing by moving the
food around the mouth, pushing it between the
teeth and covering it with saliva, which contains
enzymes that start the digestive process.
The food is turned into a partially digested mass
known as a bolus.
• Swallowing: when the food is ready to travel to the
stomach, the tongue pushes it to the back of the
mouth.
Tongue Taste Centres
Epiglottis

Bitter
Papillae
Taste Buds
Sour

Salt

Sweet
 Esophagus
• The food passes into the
pharynx (a muscular tube
behind the mouth) and
down the esophagus.
• The epiglottis a small flap
of cartilage blocks the
entrance to the larynx,
this stops the food going
down the wrong way and
prevents choking.
 Structure of the Esophagus
& Functions

• It is a muscular tube.
• It leads from the pharynx to the
stomach.
Function
• To carry chewed food from the
pharynx to the stomach.
• Food moves along it by a muscular
contraction known as peristalsis.
• The muscle fibres contract and relax
which acts like a wave on the tube,
pushing the bolus forward.
• It’s lining secretes mucus to lubricate
the passage of food.
 The Stomach

Esophagus
Cardiac Sphincter

Pyloric
Sphincter

Duodenum

Body of Stomach
 Stomach Structure

• It is a J-shaped, elastic organ.

• Food enters it from the esophagus through the
cardiac sphincter.
• The cardiac sphincter, is a valve that stops back
flow of the stomach`s contents.
• Food leaves the stomach through the pyloric
sphincter into the duodenum (first part of the
small intestine).
• The walls of the stomach is made up of layers
of muscle.
• It has an inner mucous membrane.
• This membrane has lots of folds.
• When the stomach is full these folds stretch
out, enabling it to expand, then they contract
when the stomach empties.
Functions of The Stomach

• It digests protein through the action of

enzymes.
• It churns food with the gastric juices.
• It helps lubricate the food by producing mucus.
• It absorbs alcohol.
• It kills bacteria by producing hydrochloric acid.
 Gastric Juices

• Hydrochloric acid neutralises bacteria and

activates pepsin.
• Rennin is an enzyme that curdles milk
protein in infants.
• Pepsin is an enzyme that breaks down
proteins into peptones.
Structure of the Small Intestine

• It is seven metres long.

• It is divided into three parts:
 The duodenum
 The jejunum
 The ileum
• The walls has four layers:
 A muscular layer
 A layer containing blood vessels,
lymph vessels, and nerves.
 A submucous layer,
 A mucous layer.

• The inner wall is covered in villi, tiny

hair like projections which increase the
surface area for absorption.
• Each villi contain blood vessels and
lymph vessels
Functions of The Small Intestine
Digestion
• Pancreatic juice is secreted into the duodenum and
contains the following enzymes:
Trypsin: converts proteins into shorter chains.
Lipase: converts fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
Amylase: converts starch into disaccharides.
• Bile: emulsifies fats (breaks them into smaller droplets).
• Intestinal Juices have the following enzymes:
Maltase, sucrase, lactase: change disaccharides
into monosaccharides.
Peptidase: changes polypeptides into amino acids.
 Absorption

• Digested food is absorbed through the villi

walls.
Fats, fatty acids and glycerol are passed
into the lymph system.
Amino acids and sugars pass along the
portal vein to the liver.
 Ascending Transverse
Descending
Colon Colon
Colon

Caecum

Anus Rectum
Apendix
What is the Large Intestine
• It deals with waste.
• It is about 1.5m long.
• It consists of the following:
The caecum: a small pouch; the
ileum empties its contents into the
caecum through the ileo-caecal
valve.
The colon: ascending, transverse,
descending colon.
The appendix: narrow tube
attached to the caecum.
The rectum.
The anus
 Functions
• Whatever remains of the food, is passed into
the large intestine
• To reabsorb water and vitamins left in digestive
waste.
• It secretes mucus to help the movement of
faeces.
• Short term storage of faeces in the rectum.
• Many bacteria live in the large intestine, they
are harmless in the colon and may be useful
e.g. produce Vitamin K.
• Defecation: peristalsis pushes waste along the
colon and then it is passed out of the body.
 ENZYMES
• An enzyme is a biological catalyst
• A catalyst speeds up chemical reactions
• Enzymes speed up biological reactions
• All chemical reactions that take place in living
systems require the action of an enzyme
• Digestive enzymes break food down into
smaller, more soluble substances
• This allows the food to be absorbed into the
blood
 STAGES OF NUTRITION
There are four stages in human nutrition:
1. Eating (also called “ingestion”)
2. Digestion
3. Absorption of digested food into the blood
4. Elimination of undigested food (also called
“egestion”)
STAGES OF NUTRITION

• Digestion changes food into a form that can

enter the blood
• Physical (mechanical) digestion breaks food
down into smaller pieces
• Chemical digestion breaks food down into
different, more soluble substances
 TEETH
• An adult human has 32 teeth, 16 in either
jaw
• The shape and size of the tooth varies
with the job it has to do
• There are four different types of tooth
• The type of teeth that an animal has
depends on what it eats
• A herbivore eats plant material and has
very large incisors and molars
• A carnivore eats other animals and needs
very large canines
• An omnivore (e.g. humans) eats all kinds
of food and needs and use all of the types
of tooth equally
 TEETH
Incisors
These cut and bite food
Canines
These grasp and tear food
Pre-molars
These grind and chew food
Molars
These also grind and chew
food
THANK YOU!