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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]
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 same cells in the stomach that produce gastric hydrochloric acid, the parietal cells, also produce a molecule called the intrinsic factor (IF), which binds the B 12 after its release from haptocorrin by digestion, and without which only 1% of vitamin B 12 is absorbed. Intrinsic factor (IF) is a glycoprotein, with a molecular weight of 45 kDa.
The mucus produced by these cells is extremely important, as it prevents the stomach from digesting itself. [5] Parietal cells produce potent hydrochloric acid, which damages cells. Gastric chief cells produce pepsinogen, which is activated by the acid to form pepsin. Pepsin is a protease that can digest and damage stomach cells.
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]
Gastric acid (informally gastric juice), produced in the stomach plays a vital role in the digestive process, and mainly contains hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride. A peptide hormone, gastrin, produced by G cells in the gastric glands, stimulates the production of gastric juice which activates the digestive enzymes.
The stomach is involved in the gastric phase of digestion, following the cephalic phase in which the sight and smell of food and the act of chewing are stimuli. In the stomach a chemical breakdown of food takes place by means of secreted digestive enzymes and gastric acid. The stomach is located between the esophagus and the small intestine.