Digestion and absorption in the upper GIT Flashcards
What are the principle site of carbohydrate digestion?
1) Mouth
2) Intestinal lumen
What are the enzymes that are involved in the digestion of carbohydrates?
Glycosidase (specific to the bond they are breaking)
- Final product being monosaccharides
What is the enzyme that synthesizes glycosidic bonds?
Glycosyltransferase
What is the carbohydrate bond that is broken down by salivary amylase?
a-1,4 glycosidic bond
What are the different outcomes of salivary alpha amylase digestion?
1) Dextrin (branched and unbranched oligosaccharides)
2) Disaccharides (some are resistant to amylase)
- dISACCHARIDES NEED DISACCHARIDASE ENZYME TO HYDROLYZE THEM INTO MONOSACCHARIDES
What is the role of the pancreatic amylase?
- Once the salivary alpha-amylase reaches the stomach they get denatured
- The pancreatic amylase continues the process of starch digestion by breaking the a-1,4 linkages
Where does the final carbohydrate digestion occur in the body?
At the intestinal brush border
What type of carbohydrate bond is broken down by isomaltase?
- a-1,6
- Its products are 2 glucose molecules
What type of carbohydrate bond is broken down by maltase?
- a1,4
- Its products are 2 glucose molecules
What type of carbohydrate linkage is broken down by Lactase?
- B-1,4
- Its products are glucose and galactose
What type of carbohydrate bond is broken down by sucrase?
- a1,2
- Its products are glucose and fructose
What type of carbohydrate bond is broken down by trehalase?
- a-1,1
- Its products are 2 glucose molecules
Where does the absorption of monosaccharides occur?
In the duodenum and upper jejunum
What is the transporter of glucose and galactose?
- Secondary active transporter
- The sodium-glucose linked transporter (Na+ / glucose co-transporters) SGLT-1
- SGLT1 means sodium glucose linked transporter 1
- This transporter transports them from the lumen to the mucosal cell
What is the transporter of fructose?
- Facilitated diffusion
- Not dependent on insulin
- GLUT5
- It is a uni-porter that is independent on sodium
- Transports fructose from the lumen into the mucosal cell
What is the transporter that transports monosaccharides from the mucosal cell into the portal circulation?
GLUT-2
What is the channel responsible for the secondary active transportation of the carbohydrates?
The sodium-potassium pump (Na+/K+), which establishes a sodium gradient by pumping it out of the cell using ATP
Summarize the digestion of carbohydrates
1) Mouth
- Starch
- Lactose
- Sucrose
- Cellulose
These carbohydrates are digested by a-amylase into:
- Starch dextrin
- Isomaltose
- Maltose
- Maltotriose
- Lactose
- Sucrose
- Cellulose
2) Stomcah
- In the stomach the Low pH denatures a-amylase and the pancreatic a-amylase takes its place converting the carbohydrates into:
- Isomaltose
- Maltose
- Maltotriose
- Lactose
- Sucrose
3) Mucosal cell membrane bound enzyme like:
- Isomaltase
- Lactase
- Sucrase
- Trehalase
- These enzymes will convert the carbohydrates to:
- Glucose
- Fructose
- Galactose
Then the carbohydrate will be taken to the portal circulation and to the liver
- Cellulose is excreted unchanged
What is meant by lactase deficiency?
- Lactase deficiency is when someone lacks the enzyme responsible for the cleavage of lactose
- Lactose will then get fermented by the gut bacteria into gas
- Lactose will also raise the osmotic pressure in the lumen resulting in a diarrhea
What are the types of lactase deficiency?
1) Primary lactase deficiency
2) Secondary lactase deficiency
What is meant by primary lactase deficiency?
- It is a congenital deficiency of lactase
- After the ingestion of lactose the affected child can experience stomach cramps, bloating, excess gas production and diarrhea, which might lead to failure to gain weight and failure to thrive
What is secondary lactase deficiency?
When someone has lactase deficiency due to an acquired cause like:
1) Gastroenteritis
2) Celiac disease
3) Crohn’s disease
4) Chemotherapy
5) Long course of antibiotics
How can we test for lactose intolerance?
1) Hydrogen breath test
The hydrogen breath test is used to diagnose either carbohydrate malabsorption (intolerance to sugars) or small intestine bacterial overgrowth
- This test measures the changes in the amount of hydrogen present in your breath after consuming hydrogen
What is meant by congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency?
- When a person congenitally lacks the enzymes sucrase and isomaltase
- Appears after an infant is weaned and starts consuming fruits, juices and grains