Major parts of the digestive system | - Salivary glands
- Oesophagus
- Stomach
- Pancreas
- Ileum
- Large intestine
- Rectum |
Oesophagus | - Carries food from the mouth to the stomach |
Stomach | - Muscular sack
- Inner layer has glands, produces enzymes
- Stores + digests food, especially proteins |
Ileum | - Long muscular tube
- Food digested by enzymes
- Has villi |
Large intestine | - Absorbs water |
Rectum | - Final section of intestines
- Where faeces are stored
- Removed via anus, called egestion |
Salivary glands | - Near mouth
- Secretes amylase, hydrolyses starch into amylose |
Pancreas | - Large gland below stomach
- Produces pancreatic juice
- Contains protease, lipase and amylase |
What is digestion | Two stages
- Physical breakdown
- Chemical breakdown |
Physical breakdown | - Teeth breaks down large molecules into smaller ones
- So food can be ingested
- LSA for chemical digestion
- Food churned by muscles in stomach |
Chemical breakdown | - Hydrolysis of large insoluble molecules into smaller soluble ones
- Enzymes hydrolyse molecules, adding water |
Types of enzymes | - Carbohydrase/amylase
- Lipase
- Protease |
Carbohydrase | - Hydrolyses carbohydrates into monosaccharides
- Made by pancreas, small intestine, salivary glands |
Lipase | - Hydrolyses lipids into glycerol + fatty acids
- Made by pancreas, small intestine |
Protease | - Hydrolyses proteins into amino acids
- Made by pancreas, small intestine, stomach |
Membrane-bound disaccharidases | - Enzymes attached to cell membranes of epithelial cells lining the ileum
- Helps break down disaccharides into monosa. |
Carbohydrate digestion (1) | - Salivary amylase in the mouth hydrolyses starch (macromolecule) into maltose
- Breaking 1-4 glycosidic bonds |
Carbohydrate digestion (2) | - Salivary amylase is denatured in the stomach |
Carbohydrate digestion (3) | - After the stomach food then enters the small intestine where it mixes with pancreatic juice |
Carbohydrate digestion (4) | - Pancreatic amylase hydrolyses starch |
Carbohydrate digestion (5) | - There are maltase enzymes on epithelial cells of ileum |
Carbohydrate digestion (6) | - These hydrolyse maltose to alpha glucose
- Glucose can be absorbed into the blood |
Bile salts | - Produced by the liver
- Emulsifies lipids into small droplets |
Importance of bile salts | - Small lipid droplets increases SA for lipase to work on |
Peptidases | - Group of proteases
- Proteins are large, complex |
The different peptidases | - Endopeptidases
- Exopeptidases
- Dipeptidases |
Endopeptidases | - Breaks down specific amino acids in the middle of a polypeptide |
Exopeptidases | - Break down specific amino acids at the end of a polypeptide |
Dipeptidases | - Hydrolyses dipeptides into amino acids |