2.1 Enzymes & Digestion Flashcards
(27 cards)
What does the oesophagus do?
Carries food from the mouth to the stomach.
What are the 7 main parts of the digestive system?
Oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, salivary glands and pancreas
What does the oesophagus have to help it perform its function?
Thick muscular wall
What does the stomach do?
It produces enzymes. It stores and digests food, especially proteins.
What prevents the stomach from being digested by its own enzymes?
Mucus
What is the role of the small intestine?
Further digests food & absorbs the products of digestion into the bloodstream.
What aspect of the small intestine helps it absorb food?
The villi, and the microvilli at the end of epithelial cells of each villus.
What does the large intestine do?
It absorbs water.
What is the product of the large intestine once it has absorbed water?
Faeces
What does the rectum do?
Stores faeces
What do the salivary glands?
They secrete amylase into the mouth
What does amylase do?
Breaks down starch into maltose
What does the pancreas do?
Produces pancreatic juice which contains protease, lipase and amylase
What does protease break down?
Digests proteins
What does lipase do?
Digests lipids
What are the two stages of digestion?
Physical breakdown and chemical breakdown
How is food physically broken down?
By the teeth, giving a bigger surface area for chemical digestion.
Muscles in the stomach also churn the food, physically breaking it down.
How is chemical digestion carried out?
By enzymes
How to digestive enzymes function?
Hydrolysis
What is hydrolysis?
The splitting up of molecules by adding water to the chemical bonds that hold them together
The general term for digestive enzymes is
Hydrolases
What are the three different types of enzyme?
Carbohydrases, lipases and proteases
What do carbohydrases do?
Break down carbohydrates to monosaccharides
What do lipases do?
Break down lipids into glycerol and fatty acids
