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Gastric acid or stomach acid is the acidic component – hydrochloric acid of gastric juice, produced by parietal cells in the gastric glands of the stomach lining. With a pH of between one and three, gastric acid plays a key role in the digestion of proteins by activating digestive enzymes , which together break down the long chains of amino ...
Parietal cells (also known as oxyntic cells) are epithelial cells in the stomach that secrete hydrochloric acid (HCl) and intrinsic factor.These cells are located in the gastric glands found in the lining of the fundus and body regions of the stomach. [1]
It consists mainly of hydrochloric acid and acidifies the stomach content to a pH of 1 to 2. [36] [37] Chloride (Cl −) and hydrogen (H +) ions are secreted separately in the stomach fundus region at the top of the stomach by parietal cells of the gastric mucosa into a secretory network called canaliculi before it enters the stomach lumen. [38]
The parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid (gastric acid). This needs to be readily available for the stomach in a plentiful supply, and so from their positions in the walls, their secretory networks of fine channels called canaliculi can project and ingress into all the regions of the gastric-pit lumen.
The breakdown of protein begins in the stomach through the actions of hydrochloric acid, and the enzyme pepsin. The stomach can also produce gastric lipase, which can help digesting fat. The contents of the stomach are completely emptied into the duodenum within two to four hours after the meal is eaten.
A lack of hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach is one of the most common age-related causes of a harmed digestive system. [6] Among men and women, 27% experience a varying degree of achlorhydria. US researchers found that over 30% of women and men over the age of 60 have little to no acid secretion in the stomach.
Gastric juice, containing gastric acid, is secreted from gastric glands, which are located in gastric pits. Gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid, pepsinogen and mucus. Hydrochloric acid is secreted by parietal cells, pepsinogen is secreted by gastric chief cells and mucus is secreted by mucous neck cells. [3]
The gastric chief cell (also known as a zymogenic cell or peptic cell) is a cell in the stomach that releases pepsinogen [1] and chymosin.Pepsinogen is activated into the digestive enzyme pepsin when it comes in contact with hydrochloric acid produced by gastric parietal cells. [2]