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Pepsin is an aspartic protease, using a catalytic aspartate in its active site. [2] It is one of three principal endopeptidases (enzymes cutting proteins in the middle) in the human digestive system, the other two being chymotrypsin and trypsin.
The stomach plays a major role in digestion, both in a mechanical sense by mixing and crushing the food, and also in an enzymatic sense, by digesting it. The following are enzymes produced by the stomach and their respective function: Pepsin is the main gastric enzyme.
Pepsinogen is activated into the digestive enzyme pepsin when it comes in contact with hydrochloric acid produced by gastric parietal cells. [5] This type of cell also secretes gastric lipase enzymes, which help digest triglycerides into free fatty acids and di- and mono-glycerides. [6]
In the human digestive system, a bolus (a small rounded mass of chewed up food) enters the stomach through the esophagus via the lower esophageal sphincter. The stomach releases proteases (protein-digesting enzymes such as pepsin), and hydrochloric acid, which kills or inhibits bacteria and provides the acidic pH of 2 for the proteases to work.
The digestive system has a complex system of motility and secretion regulation which is vital for proper function. This task is accomplished via a system of long reflexes from the central nervous system (CNS), short reflexes from the enteric nervous system (ENS) and reflexes from GI peptides working in harmony with each other. [4]
Their secretions make up the digestive gastric juice. The gastric glands open into gastric pits in the mucosa. The gastric mucosa is covered in surface mucous cells that produce the mucus necessary to protect the stomach's epithelial lining from gastric acid secreted by parietal cells in the glands, and from pepsin, a secreted digestive enzyme ...
The largest structure of the digestive system is the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract). This starts at the mouth and ends at the anus, covering a distance of about nine metres (30 ft). [1] A major digestive organ is the stomach. Within its mucosa are millions of embedded gastric glands. Their secretions are vital to the functioning of the organ.
The gastric hydrogen potassium ATPase or H + /K + ATPase is the proton pump of the stomach.It exchanges potassium from the intestinal lumen with cytoplasmic hydronium [2] and is the enzyme primarily responsible for the acidification of the stomach contents and the activation of the digestive enzyme pepsin [3] (see gastric acid).