Name _____________

Digestive System Worksheet

Salivary Glands
1. Produce what fluid?
Saliva

2. # functions of saliva
a.Chemical Digestion

b.Solvent Efect

c. contains what enzyme?

Immunoglobulins And Lysozymes
d. What does this enzyme do?
The digestive functions of saliva include moistening food, and helping to create a
food bolus, so it can be swallowed easily. Saliva contains the enzyme amylase
that breaks some starches down into maltose and dextrin. Thus, digestion of food
occurs within the mouth, even before food reaches the stomach.

3. What is the function of the epiglottis?

The epiglottis is a flexible flap at the superior end of the larynx in the throat. It acts as a switch
between the larynx and the esophagus to permit air to enter the airway to the lungs and food
to pass into the gastrointestinal tract.

Alimentary Canal
What is it and what organs comprise it?
The organs of the alimentary canal are the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small
intestine, and large intestine. The accessory digestive structures include the teeth, tongue,
salivary glands, liver, pancreas, and gallbladder.

Esophagus

1. Explain peristalsis.
Peristalsis is a sequential, coordinated contraction wave that travels the entire length of
the esophagus, propelling intraluminal contents distally to the stomach.

2. What is a sphincter muscle?

The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is a bundle of muscles at the low end of
the esophagus, where it meets the stomach.
 3. Where is the cardiac sphincter found?

What does it do?

The lower sphincter, or cardiac sphincter, at the upper portion (cardia) of the stomach.
This sphincter prevents the acidic contents of the stomach from moving upward into the
esophagus.

4. Explain “heartburn”.
Heartburn occurs when stomach acid backs up into the tube that carries food from your mouth
to your stomach (esophagus).

Stomach
1. What do the glands of the stomach produce?
The mucosa is densely packed with gastric glands, which contain cells
that produce digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and mucus.

2. What function does mucus have?

Mucus serves to protect epithelial cells in the linings of the respiratory, digestive, and
urogenital systems, and structures in the visual, and auditory systems from pathogenic fungi,
bacteria and viruses. 

3. Gastric Juice:

a. What is the pH?

Normal gastric juices are acidic in nature, having a pH of approximately 1-3.

B. What acid is present?

Gastric juice is a unique combination of hydrochloric acid (HCl),
lipase, and pepsin.

C. What enzyme is also present?

Pepsin is a stomach enzyme that serves to digest proteins found in ingested food.

D. This enzyme breaks down Starch into maltose.

4. What is chyme?
the pulpy acidic fluid which passes from the stomach to the small intestine, consisting of
gastric juices and partly digested food.

5. What is the function of the pyloric sphincter?

The pyloric sphincter is a ring of smooth muscle that connects the stomach and small
intestine.
Liver
1. Bile:
a. What is bile?
Bile is a fluid that is made and released by the liver and stored in the gallbladder.

B. Explain what it means for bile to emulsify fat.

When bile enters the small intestine, it will mix with the fat globules and will cause them to
break down into smaller units called emulsion droplets.
C. Where is bile stored?
It is stored in the gallbladder
D. What does it contain?
Bile contains bile acids, which are critical for digestion and absorption of fats and fat-soluble
vitamins in the small intestine.

2. How does the liver detoxify blood?

The liver turns the toxic ammonia into a substance called urea.
3. What is urea?
Organisms that cannot easily and safely remove nitrogen as ammonia convert it to a less toxic
substance such as urea or uric acid via the urea cycle, which occurs mainly in the liver.
4. What is urea produced from?
Urea is naturally produced when the liver breaks down protein or amino acids, and ammonia. 
5. The hormone insulin causes the liver to change glucose into ___________.
This hormone, insulin, causes the liver to convert more glucose into glycogen (this
process is called glycogenesis), and to force about 2/3 of body cells (primarily muscle and fat
tissue cells) to take up glucose from the blood through the GLUT4 transporter, thus
decreasing blood sugar.
Gall Bladder
1. What does it store?
The gallbladder stores and concentrates bile from the liver.
2. How is bile tranferred to the small intestine?
The common bile duct enters the small intestine at the sphincter of Oddi (a ring-shaped
muscle), located a few inches below the stomach.
3. What are gall stones?
a small, hard crystalline mass formed abnormally in the gallbladder or bile ducts from bile
pigments, cholesterol, and calcium salts.

Pancreas
Four important pancreatic secretions. Explain what each one does!

1. Sodium bicarbonate
Epithelial cells in pancreatic ducts are the source of the bicarbonate and water secreted by
the pancreas. Bicarbonate is a base and critical to neutralizing the acid coming into the small
intestine from the stomach.
2. Amylase
Amylase is an enzyme, or special protein, that helps you digest food. Most of your amylase is
made in the pancreas and salivary glands. A small amount of amylase in your blood and urine
is normal.
 3. Proteases
Digestion of proteins is initiated by pepsin in the stomach, but the bulk of protein
digestion is due to the pancreatic proteases. Several proteases are synthesized in
the pancreas and secreted into the lumen of the small intestine.
4. Lipase
A lipase test measures the level of a protein called lipase in your blood. Lipase helps
your body absorb fats. It's released by the pancreas, a long, flat gland between your
stomach and spine. When your pancreas is inflamed or injured, it releases
more lipase than usual.
The pancreas also produces two hormones: _______________&________________.
Two of the main pancreatic hormones are insulin, which acts to lower blood sugar, and
glucagon, which acts to raise blood sugar. Maintaining proper blood sugar levels is crucial to
the functioning of key organs including the brain, liver, and kidneys.
Small Intestine
1. Where is the duodenum?
The duodenum is the first part of the small intestine. The main role of the duodenum is to
complete the first phase of digestion.
2. Lacteals are tiny vessels of the lymphatic system. What digested materials do they
absorb?
Lacteal is a lymphatic capillary that absorbs dietary fats in the villi of the small intestines. The
lacteals merge to form larger lymphatic vessels that transport chyle to the thoracic duct where
it is emptied into the blood stream at the subclavian vein.
3. What are villi and what do they absorb?
The small intestine contains small finger-like projections of tissue called villi which increase
the surface area of the intestine and contain specialized cells that transport substances into
the bloodstream. Although these villi do not aid in the digestion of nutrients, they do help with
nutrient absorption.
4. The villi contain many important enzymes. What does each do?

a. Peptidases
Peptidase is also known as protease or proteinase. They are produced in the
stomach, small intestine and pancreas and are responsible for the cleavage of
peptide bonds between amino acids via hydrolysis reactions, as shown in figure
1. Thus, they have roles in the breakdown of proteins within the body.
b. maltase
Maltase, enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of the disaccharide maltose to the
simple sugar glucose. 
c. sucrase
Sucrase. Sucrase, also called Invertase, any member of a group of enzymes present in yeast
and in the intestinal mucosa of animals that catalyze the hydrolysis of cane sugar, or sucrose,
to the simple sugars glucose and fructose.
d. lactase
Lactase functions at the brush border to break down lactose into smaller sugars called
glucose and galactose for absorption.
Large Intestine

1. How much of the digestive system occurs here?

The 4 major functions of the large intestine are recovery of water and electrolytes, formation
and storage of faeces and fermentation of some of the indigestible food matter by bacteria. 
2. Give two functions of the Large intestine (colon).
 absorbing water and electrolytes, producing and absorbing vitamins.
3. E. coli are bacteria that live in the colon. What do they do?
coli make you sick by making a toxin called Shiga. This toxin damages the lining of
your intestine
4. What remains is undigested material called__________________.
The other parts of the colon absorb water and minerals from the undigested food and
compact the remaining material into feces. Defecation is the digestive process final
stage: feces (undigested waste products) are carried to the rectum through peristalsis
and eliminated through the anus.
5. This waste is eliminated through the opening called______________.
Instead, uric acid from the kidneys is secreted into the large intestine and combined
with waste from the digestive process.
6. Disorders: Explain each.

a. Ulcer
An ulcer is a sore, which means it's an open, painful wound. Peptic ulcers are ulcers that
form in the stomach or the upper part of the small intestine, called the duodenum (pronounced:
doo-uh-DEE-num).

b. Constipation
Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. The stool is often
hard and dry. Other symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, and feeling as if one has
not completely passed the bowel movement.

c. Diarrhea
Diarrhea is loose, watery stools (bowel movements). You have diarrhea if you have loose
stools three or more times in one day. Acute diarrhea is diarrhea that lasts a short time. It is a
common problem. It usually lasts about one or two days, but it may last longer.