The fantastic voyage of the digestive system

1868 Words4 Pages

Once again we have been miniaturized in the submarine to continue the fantastic voyage of the digestive system. We will be touring a 55-year-old male. The host will be having a hamburger, French fries, and a root beer. We will be tracing lunch through the digestion process. Digestion is the process of turning the food that is ate into energy needed to survive and involves creating waste to be eliminated. (Mohan, 2010). The digestive tract is a long twisting tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus, called the alimentary canal. The wall of this tube is fashioned of four layers of tissue. The layers are listed from the inside coat to the outside coat: mucosa or mucus membrane, submucosa, muscularis, and serosa. The hollow space within the digestive tube is called the lumen. (Thibodeau & Patton, 2008).

We will begin the tour by entering the oral cavity. The mouth is a hollow chamber with a roof, a floor, walls, teeth for grinding food, and is lined with mucous membrane. The mucus produced by the lining of the GI tract protects the epithelium from digestive juices and lubricates food passing through the lumen. Digestion starts in the mouth before you even take the first bite of the meal. The smells trigger the salivary glands to secrete saliva. (Mohan, 2010). There are three pairs of salivary glands; they are the parotids, submandibular, and sublingual’s. (Thibodeau & Patton, 2008). The saliva increases when you actually taste the food. Once you start chewing and breaking the food down more saliva is produced to begin the process of breaking down food into a form your body can absorb and use. Foods undergo three kinds of processing in the body: digestion, absorption, and metabolism. (Mohan, 2010). Our first stop past the...

... middle of paper ...

...ific jobs but still work so close together delivering the nutrients and elimination to maintain homeostasis. Looks like we are ready to exit so I hope you enjoyed the tour and please feel free to ask any questions. Have a nice day.

Works Cited

Mohan, V. (2010). The Digestive System: Food’s Journey through the Digestive System. WebMD. Retrieved from http:www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-system

Thibodeau, G. A., & Patteon, K. T. (2008). Structure & function of the body (13th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby/Elsevier.

Anatomy EXPERT, (n.d.). Structure Detail. Anatomy EXPERT. Retrieved from http://www.anatomyexpert.com/structure_detail/8920/32838/

Cardiovascular System, (n.d.) Circulation. Retrieved from http://www.anatomy.tv/StudyGuides/StudyGuide.aspx

The Digestive System, (n.d.) The Digestive System. Retrieved from: http://www.anatomy.tv/StudyGuides

Open Document