Histology of

the Digestive
System

Ma. Minda Luz M. Manuguid, M.D.

 The Gastrointestinal Tract
 Oral cavity: Lips;  Duodenum
Teeth; Chewing  Jejunum
muscles;  Ileum
Gingiva; Palate;  Cecum; Appendix
Tongue; Buccal
 Ascending,
mucosa; Salivary
glands Transverse,
Descending Colon
 Oropharynx
 Sigmoid; Rectum
 Esophagus
 Anus
 Stomach
 Accessory Organs of
Digestion
 Teeth & Muscles of Mastication – for
mechanical digestion – break down food
pieces into smaller particles
 Tongue – contains taste buds; pushes food
bolus backward
 Salivary glands – secrete saliva that
moistens the food surfaces, initiates CHO
digestion, & maintains mouth hygiene
 Liver – secretes bile (emulsifies lipids) &
digestive enzymes
 Gallbladder – stores & concentrates bile
 *Oral Cavity
 Lips – stratified squamous epithelium;
skeletal muscle (orbicularis oris); mucous
glands
 Gingiva; hard Palate – keratinized
epithelium
 soft Palate; buccal Mucosa – nonkeratinized
epith.
 chewing Muscles – masseter; pterygoids
 Tongue – skeletal muscles; papillae w/ taste
buds
 Teeth – 20 milk, 32 adult : dentin, enamel,
 Oral Cavity
Tongue – 3 layers of skeletal muscles
– hyoglossus, genioglossus, & 4 types
of papillae:
 Foliate – leaf-like – rare
 Filiform – flame-like – most numerous;
no taste buds
 Fungiform – mushroom-like – abundant;
few taste buds
 Circumvallate – 9 large rounded
papillae, each surrounded by a “collar”
& a deep furrow; arranged in a V-
shaped row at the junction between the
Tongue; Taste buds
 Teeth

 Teeth – 20 milk
teeth; 32 adult;
incisors for cutting,
molars for grinding
 Ameloblasts –
secrete enamel –
consists of organic
Protein & inorganic
Ca-based salts;
harder than bone
 Odontoblasts –
secrete dentin –
 Salivary glands
 Salivary Glands – compound tubuloalveolar /
tubuloacinar; myoepithelial cells- stellate
with contractile filaments; duct sys:
intercalated (cuboidal) → striated/secretory
(columnar) → interlobular (columnar) →
primary duct → oral cavity
 Parotid – largest; mostly serous acini
 Submaxillary / Submandibular – mixed serous &
mucous
 Sublingual – mostly mucous
 Minor glands – von Ebner, labial, lingual
 Saliva – contains water, ions, enzymes
(ptyalin or salivary amylase), glycoproteins,
proteoglycans, sialomucins, IgA
Salivary glands

Serous demilune

Masson’s trichrome & alcian yellow

Salivary glands
intercalated

striated duct
 General Histologic Plan of
the GIT
 Mucosa – simple columnar
epithelium with goblet cells
+ lamina propria +
muscularis mucosae
 Submucosa – fibrous
connective tissue; contains
blood vessels, nerves,
abundant lymphatics,
autonomic nerve plexus-
Meissner’s plexus
 Muscularis Externa – inner
circular, outer longitudinal
layers of smooth muscles; in- S/A
between: myenteric nerve
plexus- Auerbach’s plexus
 Nerve plexuses

Auerbach’s myenteric plexus Meissner’s submucosal plexus

 *Oropharynx
Nonkeratinized stratified squamous
epithelium
Thick dense elastic layer instead of a
muscularis mucosae
Mucous glands
Muscles: inner longitudinal, outer
oblique/circular smooth muscles;
skeletal muscles: stylopharyngeus,
salpingopharyngeus,
palatopharyngeus, superior, middle,
& inferior constrictor pharyngii
 *Esophagus
 Nonkeratinized
stratified
squamous
epithelium

 Mucous glands

 Muscles: upper ¼ -
skeletal; middle 1/3
– mixed skeletal &
smooth muscles;
lower 1/3 to ½ -
 *Stomach
 Rugae – temporary mucosal folds evident
when stomach is “empty”
 Mucosa – simple columnar epithelium with
several other cell types
 Chief cells – cuboidal to low columnar - secrete
pepsinogen
 Parietal / Oxyntic – spherical to pyramidal -
secrete HCl & IFoC
 Neck cells / mucous – secrete mucin
 Argentaffin / E cells – small rounded, granular –
secrete serotonin
 A cells – secrete glucagon
 G cells – secrete gastrin
 D cells – secrete somatostatin
Stomach
Stomach
Gastroesophageal &
Gastroduodenal
 *Small Intestines
 Mucosa
 Plicae circulares / valvulae conniventes / valves
of Kerckring
 Villi; Crypts of Lieberkühn
 Lacteals – lymphatic channels for absorbed fat
 Absorptive columnar cells – 3000 microvilli /cell
(“brush border”)
 Goblet cells – mucin; argentaffin – serotonin; S
– secretin; L – glucagon; K – GIP; I – CCK; D –
somatostatin; EC – serotonin, motilin,
substance P
 Paneth cells – pyramidal – secrete lysozyme
 Submucosa
Small
Intestines
 Duodenum – initial
part, receives
chyme from the
pylorus of the
stomach
Brunner’s glands –
secrete mucin &
Bicarbonate
 Jejunum – most
numerous plicae &
villi
 Ileum – last
segment –
 Small
Intestines

plicae
microvilli villus
Small Intestines

Brunner’s
 Small Intestines

Brunner’s glands Peyer’s patch

Goblet cells (mucicarmine) Paneth cells / crypts

 *Large Intestines
 Mucosa – many more goblet cells; larger
lumen than small intestines; no Paneth
cells
Rugae – temporary mucosal folds
 Muscles – outer longitudinal layer is
discontinuous, split into three bands, the
taenia coli
 Haustra – bag-like bulging of the wall in
between the taenia (“excess” mucosa)
 Appendices epiploicae – small fatty serosal
protruberances
 Rectal columns of Morgagni – longitudinal
mucosal folds
 Anus – stratified squamous epithelium;
 Large Intestines
 Cecum
appendix
 Ascending colon
 Transverse colon
 Descending colon
 Sigmoid
 Rectum
 Anus
 The Appendix
 “vermiform”
evagination of the
cecum
 Mucosa – simple
columnar with
goblet cells; fewer,
shorter, glands; no
taenia
 Submucosa –
abundant lymphoid
follicles
 Muscles – inner
circular, outer
 Accessory Organs of
Digestion: Liver
 Liver – secretes bile,
necessary for lipid
digestion
 Liver lobule –
histologic unit of Liver
morphology –
polygonal; cords of
hepatocytes radiating
outward from the
central vein (a
tributary of the
hepatic vein);
 portal triad / porta
Liver
 Central vein
 Hepatocytes
 Bile canaliculus
 Space of Disse
 Sinusoids
 Hering canals / bile
ductules
 Kupffer cells
 Ito cells
 Liver

CV

Kupffer cells
 Accessory Organs:
Gallbladder
 Gallbladder – storage &
concentration of bile
 Mucosa – simple
columnar with microvilli
Rugae
Lamina propria – loose
areolar connective
tissue
Rokitansky-Aschoff
sinuses
 Muscles – inner oblique,
middle transverse, outer
longitudinal
 Serosa – perimuscular
 Accessory Organs:
Pancreas
 Mixed Exocrine &
endocrine gland
 Endocrine – islets of
Langerhans (α, β, δ) –
secrete glucagon,
insulin, somatostatin
 Exocrine – compound
acinar gland similar to
the parotid, but w/o
striated ducts, & the
initial portions of the
intercalated ducts
penetrate the lumen
of the acini, forming
the “centroacinar”
 Pancreas
 Exocrine secretions
(alkaline): water, ions
including bicarbonate,
proenzymes trypsinogen,
chymotrypsinogen,
carboxypeptidase,
ribonuclease,
deoxyribonuclease,
triacylglycerol lipase,
phospholipase, elastase,
amylase. These
proenzymes are activated
within the duodenal
lumen
That’s all, Folks !