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Control of the digestive system is also maintained by ENS, which can be thought of as a digestive brain that can help to regulate motility, secretion and growth. Sensory information from the digestive system can be received, integrated and acted upon by the enteric system alone. When this occurs, the reflex is called a short reflex. [4]
The human digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract plus the accessory organs of digestion (the tongue, salivary glands, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder). Digestion involves the breakdown of food into smaller and smaller components, until they can be absorbed and assimilated into the body.
The gastrointestinal wall of the gastrointestinal tract is made up of four layers of specialised tissue. From the inner cavity of the gut (the lumen) outwards, these are the mucosa, the submucosa, the muscular layer and the serosa or adventitia.
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and other animals, including the esophagus , stomach , and intestines .
Enteroendocrine cells are specialized cells of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas with endocrine function. They produce gastrointestinal hormones or peptides in response to various stimuli and release them into the bloodstream for systemic effect, diffuse them as local messengers, or transmit them to the enteric nervous system to activate nervous responses.
The interstitial cells of Cajal are specialized pacemaker cells [3] located in the wall of the stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. [1] These cells are connected to the smooth muscle via gap junctions and the myenteric plexus. The cell membranes of the pacemaker cells undergo a rhythmic depolarization and repolarization from -65mV to ...
The length of the human colon is, on average 160.5 cm (measured from the bottom of the cecum to the colorectal junction) with a range of 80 cm to 313 cm. [11] The average inner circumference of the colon is 6.2 cm. [10] Thus, the inner surface epithelial area of the human colon has an area, on average, of about 995 cm 2, which includes ...
Lactose intolerance is the most common problem of carbohydrate digestion and occurs when the human body doesn't produce a sufficient amount of lactase enzyme to break down the sugar lactose found in dairy. As a result of this deficiency, undigested lactose is not absorbed and is instead passed on to the colon.