Row, row, row the food!

Have you ever wonder how the food is being processed in your body and provide you the nutrients, and how all the organs incorporate with each other to perform the digestive function?

Let's us reveal it for you!

Mouth
-Digestion begins with chewing
-Food become smaller particles (the force of chewing has churned the food from the bigger chunk into smaller pieces)
-Saliva breaks down carbohydrates further with liquid enzymes (amylase)
-It moistens and lubricates the food particles, allows them dissolve and reacts with the chemoreceptors in the mouth giving rise to the sensation of taste
-Then, the tongue compact it into bolus and pushes to the throat for swallowing.

Esophagus

-In fact, food doesn't just fall down a pipe into your stomach

-Peristaltic muscular waves force the bolus down the esophagus toward the stomach.

Stomach

-Stomach’s muscle twist, turn and churn the food
-Gastric acid produced contains enzymes that begin digestion of protein.

-The chyme is form and then passes through into the small intestine. 

Small intestine

-Bile, pancreatic enzymes, and other digestive enzymes released

-Bile breaks the fat into smaller globules

-Pancreatic enzymes involve in digestion of carbohydrates and fats

-Other enzymes continue the digestion of protein.

-These three basic nutrients are completely digested, absorb into villi and carry to the body cells. 

Large intestine

-Unabsorbed materials move into the large intestine.

-Some of water and electrolytes (salts) are removed from the food.

-Many microbes present help in the digestion.

-Food travels from ascending colon to transverse colon, goes down descending colon, and then through the sigmoid colon.

Lastly, remaining solid waste is then stored in the rectum until it is excreted via the anus.

Finally, we have know how is our food being transported and excreted out from body. It is so amazing that our body can perform all the activities.

Take a short break and we will back to you with something are more informative!

*For the complete animation, you can click on this link :-http://kitses.com/animation/swfs/digestion.swf and experience more about the digestive system.*

Do you know what are the organs in digestive system?

Hmmm, let me think what are the organs that can be found in digestive system?

According to the biology lessons that we have attended, or flipped through the science magazines, organ is made up by a group of tissues which perform a specific function. For example, small intestine is made up smooth muscle to allow the movement of digested food to be transported from duodenum to large intestine. 

So, back to the topic, what are the organs in digestive system? 

Organs in digestive system begin with our mouth, then the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and end with large intestine.

Let us tell you more details about the organs that work to perform the digestive system. 

Firstly, digestion begins in mouth.

Mouth

-An oral cavity is where food enters the digestive tract

- Serve as a receptacle

- Most functions perform by the accessory organ such as teeth, saliva and tongue
-When you smell, see, or think about food, saliva gland will be stimulated, and saliva will start to form in the oral cavity, digestion is then began. 

ii)After the food is chewed in the mouth, it will form into bolus and transport via esophagus into stomach.

Esophagus
-8 inches long muscular tube connects the throat with the stomach
-Upper esophageal sphincter (UES) keeps food and secretions from going down the windpipe
-Lower esophageal sphincter (LES) close to prevent acid and stomach contents from travelling backwards from the stomach

Stomach
-A large, sack-like organ
-Composed of four main layers: muscosa, submucosa, muscularis, serosa
-A new layer of mucous lining form every two weeks
-Gastric juice (Hydrochloric acid) is produced by mucosa, around pH 2.
-Pyloric sphincter is a muscular valve that opens to allow food to pass from stomach to small intestine
-Food is entered into the small intestine within 2-6 hours

iii) The other organs that aid in digestive system.

Liver
-One of the most complex organs
-produce bile
-Hold 13% of the body blood supply
-Not include in digestive tract
-The only organ that has the capacity to regenerate itself completely

Gall bladder
-Bile storage
-Connected to small intestine (duodenum) by bile duct

Pancreas
-Leaf-shaped glandular organ
-Same as liver which do not include in digestive tract
-Connect to small intestine(duodenum) by pancreatic duct
-Made up of two types of tissue: Exocrine and endocrine
-Exocrine secretes digestive enzymes which help digestion
-It also secretes bicarbonate to neutralize stomach acid in the duodenum
-Endocrine produces hormones such as insulin and glucagon which regulate the level of glucose in the blood

iv)Lastly, the digested will reach small and large intestine for further breakdown and nutrients reabsorption.

Small intestine
-A long, coiled organ about 1 inch in diameter, may be 7.5 to 9 meters in length
-Longer than large intestine
-Divided into duodenum, jejunum, ileum

Large intestine
-Last part of digestive system
-It is approximately 5 feet long and 2 to half inches in diamter
-consists of seven sections: cecum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectum, and anus
-Bacteria present (Bacteroides, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella)

Finally, we have know what are the organs. Upcoming topic will be more interesting! 

*The diagrams above are obtained from Google image.*