FOOD PATH
 Carnivores - eat exclusively meat.
Calories For Energy
Food provides animals both a source of energy
and a supply of raw materials.
 Fats have more energy-rich carbon-
hydrogen bonds and thus a higher
energy content than carbohydrates or
proteins.
 Carbohydrates are obtained primarily
from cereals, grains, fruits and
vegetables, and contain on average 4.1
calories per gram.
– Used for energy.
 Dietary Fats are obtained from oil
margarine, and butter, and contain 9.3
calories per gram.
– Used to construct cell
membrane and other cellular
structures
 Protein can be obtained from dairy
products, poultry, fish, and meats and
have 4.1 calories per gram.
– Used as building materials for
cell structures, enzymes,
hemoglobin.
Essential Substances for Growth
Many vertebrates are unable to manufacture
one or more of 20 essential amino acids
(necessary for metabolism), and thus must
obtain them from food.
 Vitamins are organic substances used in
trace amounts.
 Trace Elements are minerals required in
very small amounts.
– Iodine, cobalt, zinc,
molybdenum, manganese, and
selenium.
Types of Digestive Systems
Heterotrophs are divided into three main
groups:
 Herbivores - eat exclusively plants.
 Omnivores - eat both plants and meat.
Single-celled organisms digest food
intracellularly.
Other animals digest food extracellularly within
digestive cavity.
Types of Digestive Systems
Specialization occurs when the digestive tract
(alimentary canal) has a separate mouth and
anus, so that food transport is one way.
 Ingested food may be stored in
specialized region of tract, or may first
be subjected to physical fragmentation,
followed by chemical digestion.
 Products then pass through epithelial
lining of the gut into blood (absorption).
Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Vertebrate system consists of tubular
gastrointestinal tract and accessory digestive
organs.
 Mouth and Pharynx
 Esophagus - Delivers food to stomach.
 Stomach - Preliminary digestion.
 Small Intestine - Digestion and
absorption.
 Large Intestine - Water/ mineral
absorption.
 Cloaca / Rectum - Waste expulsion.
Vertebrate Digestive Systems
In general, carnivores have relatively shorter
intestines than herbivores.
 Plant cellulose resists digestion.`
o Ruminants (cows) contain four-
chambered stomachs.
o Other herbivores (rabbits -
horses) posses cecum at
beginning of large intestine.
Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Layered structure of gastrointestinal tract.
 Mucosa
 Submucosa
 Muscularis
 Serosa
Mouth and Teeth
 Carnivorous mammals have pointed
teeth, lacking flat grinding surfaces,
adapted to cutting and shearing.
 Herbivorous mammals have large and
flat teeth adapted to grinding cellulose.
 Human Mouths are basically
carnivorous in the front, and
herbivorous in the back.
- Tongue mixes food with saliva to moisten and
lubricate food.
 Contains amylase which initiates
breakdown of starch into maltose.
- Presence of food in the mouth triggers
increased rate of secretion, as taste-
sensitive neurons send impulses to the
brain which responds by stimulating
salivary glands.
- Tongue moves food to the back of the mouth
prior to swallowing .
- Soft palate elevates and pushes against back
wall of pharynx.
 Stimulates neurons and sends impulses
to swallowing center in the brain.
 Muscles contract and raise the larynx.
– Pushes glottis against epiglottis
to keep food out of respiratory
tract.
Esophagus and Stomach
- Swallowing center stimulates successive waves
of contraction (peristalsis) that moves food
along esophagus to stomach.
 Movement of food from esophagus into
stomach controlled by either smooth
muscle (sphincter) or true sphincter.
- Stomach is a saclike portion of digestive tract
with convoluted surface enabling expansion.
 Allows for sporadic gorging.
- Stomach contains extra layer of smooth
muscle for mixing food with gastric juices.
 Parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid.
 Chief cells secrete pepsinogen.
- Human stomach produces about 2 liters of HCl
and other gastric secretions daily.
 Acidic solution kills most bacteria.
– Chyme - mixture of food and gastric
juices.
- Hormone gastrin regulates HCl synthesis.
 Overproduction of gastric acid can
potentially eat through stomach wall.
– Gastric ulcers
 Susceptibility is increased when
mucosal barriers are weakened
by Heliobacter pylori infection.
- Chyme leaves stomach through pyloric
sphincter and enters small intestine.
Stomach Functions
 Acts as a storage tank for food
 Site of food breakdown(Mechanical
breakdown of food)
 Chemical breakdown of protein begins
(Disruption of chemical bonds via acids
and enzymes)
 Delivers chyme (processed food) to the
small intestine
 Production of intrinsic factor (needed for
vitamin B12 absorption)
  Hormone production (e.g. gastrin) Small Intestine

 Kill bacteria - Small intestine breaks down large molecules

into small molecules that absorb into
Stomach bloodstream.
Four regions  Pancreas secretes enzymes into
1. Cardia duodenum.
 Liver secretes bile salts into duodenum
• Surrounds the cardio- to make fats water soluble.
esophageal sphincter
- Rest of small intestine (ilium) is devoted to
2. Fundus absorption, and is covered with villi to increase
• Expanded superior part of the absorptive surface.
stomach Small intestine
3. Body Three subdivisions:
• Midportion Duodenum - 25 cm in length
4. Pylorus - Receives bile and pancreatic secretions
• Terminal part of the stomach - Active site of digestion
• Continuous with the pyloric - Contains Brunner glands - produce mucus,
Small Intestine buffers and urogastrone
Specialized Mucosa of the Stomach Jejunum - 2.5 m in length
 Mucous neck cells –Simple columnar - Active site of nutrient absorption
epithelium produce a sticky alkaline
mucus Ileum - 3.6 m in length

 Gastric glands – secrete gastric juice
 Chief cells – produce protein-digesting
enzymes (pepsinogens)
 Parietal cells – produce
hydrochloric acid and
- Contains Peyer patches - aggregated lymphoid
nodules
- Active site of nutrient absorption: most water,
vitamins & minerals
- Some bacterial presence Fermentation

intrinsic factor Small intestine

Three structures that increase the surface area

 Endocrine cells – G cells secrete
gastrin for absorption

Microvilli
D cells secrete somatostatin
 Brush border
 Tiny projections of the plasma
membrane
Villi o Contains a microbial population
similar to the rumen
 Fingerlike projections of the mucosa
 Cellulolytic &
 Rich capillary bed and a lymphatic hemicellulolytic
vessel (lacteal) within each villus bacteria
Plicae circulares - Since cecum is located AFTER major site of
 Deep folds of both mucosa and nutrient absorption (small intestine), then
submucosa microbial cell proteins are not available to the
animal
Increased Surface Area in Small Intestine for
Absorption  Fecal loss

Large Intestine

 Colon

 Ascending

 Transverse

 Descending

 S-shaped sigmoidal

 Rectum
Large intestine
 Anus – external body opening
 1.5 m in length
Functions of the large intestine
 Extends from the ileocecal valve to the
anus  Absorption of water
 Absorption of water and elimination of
 Eliminates indigestible food from the
undigested food
body as feces
 Subdivisions: cecum, appendix, colon,
rectum and anal canal  Does not participate in digestion of food
 Cecum – saclike first part of the large
intestine  Goblet cells produce mucus to act as a
lubricant
 Appendix
– Accumulation of lymphatic  Reabsorb water and compact material
tissue that sometimes becomes into feces
inflamed (appendicitis)
– Hangs from the cecum  Absorb vitamins produced by bacteria

Cecum  Store fecal matter prior to defecation

- Located at junction of small and large intestine  Reabsorption in the large intestine
includes:
- Function similar to rumen in ruminants
 Water
 Microbial activity and digestion of feeds
  Vitamins – K, biotin, and B5 Accessory Digestive Organs

 Organic wastes – urobilinogens Pancreas

and sterobilinogens
 Contributes secretions to digest
 Bile salts protein.
 Produces hormones in islets of
 Toxins
Langerhans.
 Mass movements of material through – Controls glucose
colon and rectum
- Islets of Langerhans secrete insulin when
 Defecation reflex triggered by
glucose levels rise.
distention of rectal walls
- Liver secretes glucose when blood glucose
Rectum
levels fall.
Muscular area of large intestine used for
Accessory Digestive Organs
storage of feces and ultimately for defecation
Liver
 Feces includes sloughed cells,
undigested food and microbial matter  Largest organ in body.
 Delivers bile to duodenum.
Variations In Vertebrate Digestive Systems
 Modifies substances absorbed in
Most animals lack enzymes necessary to digest gastrointestinal tract.
cellulose.  Removes toxins
 Produces proteins found in blood
 Four-chambered stomachs plasma.
– Rumen
– Reticulum Gallbladder
 Omasum
 Stores bile
 Abomasum
 Coprophagy - Eating feces to absorb Homeostasis
nutrients.
- Dynamic constancy of internal
Ruminant Stomach environment.
 Fluctuate continuously within
narrow limits.
- Hypothalmus coordinates body
temperature regulation.
 Sweating, Blood Vessel
Dissipation
 Shivering, Blood Vessel
Constriction
- Catabolization produces nitrogenous
wastes that must be eliminated.
 Ammonia
 Urea
 Uric Acid
 – Uricase
 Allantonin
Osmoregulatory Organs
Osmoregulation is process of regulating body’s
osmotic composition.
 Filter fluid into tubules and reabsorb
ions and water.
o Flatworms – Protonephridia
o Earthworms – Nephridia
o Insects - Malpighian Tubules
o Vertebrates – Kidneys
 Selective absorption
Evolution of Vertebrate Kidney
- Cartilaginous Fish
- Kidney is complex organ made up of
repeating disposal units (nephrons).
 Blood pressure forces fluid in
blood past filter (glomerulus).
– Retains large molecules
but allows water and
small molecules to pass - Amphibians
through.
 Urine
Evolution of Vertebrate Kidney
- Freshwater Fish
 Faced two problems: - Reptiles
– Water tends to enter
body from
environment.
 Do not drink - Mammals and Birds
water and
excrete large
volume of dilute
urine.
– Solutes tend to leave
body and enter
environment.
o Reabsorb
ions across
nephron
tubules.
- Marine Bony Fish
 Body fluids are hypotonic to
seawater.
– Water leaves by
osmosis across gills.
 Drink large
amounts of
seawater.
– Most monovalent ions
actively transported out
of blood across gills.
– Divalent ions entering
blood are secreted into
nephron tubules and
excreted in the urine.
 Reabsorb urea from nephron
tubules and maintain blood
urea concentration 100 times
higher than that of mammals.
– No net movement of
water.
 Produce very dilute urine and
compensate for loss of sodium
by actively transporting sodium
across skin from surrounding
water.
 Reabsorb salt and water in
nephron tubules, and additional
water in cloaca.
 Only vertebrates able to
produce urine with higher
osmotic concentration than
body fluids.
– Excrete wastes in small
volume of water.
 Loop of Henle
portion of
nephron
 Cloaca in birds
Mammalian Kidney a. -return of filtrates
from blood
- Each kidney receives blood from renal
at the proximal tubule
artery and produces urine.
through diffusion
 Urine drains from each kidney
and active transport
through ureter which carries
urine to urinary bladder.
– Renal pelvis divided Reabsorption of water
into:
-return of H20
 Renal cortex
via osmosis
 Renal medulla
along the
Mammalian Kidney loop of Henle and
collecting duct
- Nephron Regions
 Filter
– Bowman’s Capsule 3. Tubular Secretion
 Glomerulus a. -movement of molecules
 Tube from blood
– Loop of Henle into the
 Duct distal convoluted tubule
– Collecting Duct Molecules:
drugs and toxins
The Formation of Urine

- 3 processes involved in the formation of Urine Formation by Nephron

urine.
 Simple filtration Blood pressure forces water, glucose, amino
 Selective reabsorbtion acids and urea from capillaries into nephron
– Hormonal control-
Glucose and amino acids are reabsorbed into
 Parathyroid
blood from nephron
hormone,
calcitonin Some water is reabsorbed into blood
 Anti diuretic
Urine is urea and salt concentrated in water
hormone
 Aldosterone
 Secretion
1. filtration
a. -blood pressure forces
small molecules
from the
glomerulus to the capsule
b. Filtrates:
glucose, amino acids
uric acid, urea

2. Tubular Reabsorption