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Pepsin / ˈ p ɛ p s ɪ n / is an endopeptidase that breaks down proteins into smaller peptides and amino acids. It is one of the main digestive enzymes in the digestive systems of humans and many other animals, where it helps digest the proteins in food. Pepsin is an aspartic protease, using a catalytic aspartate in its active site. [2]
Pepsin breaks down the protein in the food into smaller particles, such as peptide fragments and amino acids. Protein digestion, therefore, primarily starts in the stomach, unlike carbohydrate and lipids, which start their digestion in the mouth (however, trace amounts of the enzyme kallikrein , which catabolises certain protein, is found in ...
Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Uncatalysed, the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is extremely slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteolysis is typically catalysed by cellular enzymes called proteases , but may also occur by intra-molecular digestion.
In chemical digestion, enzymes break down food into the small compounds that the body can use. In the human digestive system , food enters the mouth and mechanical digestion of the food starts by the action of mastication (chewing), a form of mechanical digestion, and the wetting contact of saliva .
With an impulse from the vagus nerve, pepsinogen is secreted into the stomach, where it mixes with hydrochloric acid to form pepsin. [25] Once active, pepsin works to break down proteins in foods such as dairy, meat, and eggs. [24] Pepsin works best at the pH of gastric acid, 1.5 to 2.5, and is deactivated when the acid is neutralized to a pH ...
Water splitting is the chemical reaction in which water is broken down into oxygen and hydrogen: [1] 2 H 2 O → 2 H 2 + O 2 Efficient and economical water splitting would be a technological breakthrough that could underpin a hydrogen economy .
Protein catabolism often begins with pepsin, which converts proteins into polypeptides. These polypeptides are then further degraded. In humans, the pancreatic proteases include trypsin, chymotrypsin, and other enzymes. In the intestine, the small peptides are broken down into amino acids that can be absorbed into the bloodstream.
The mouth leads into a short esophagus which leads to a stomach. Associated with the stomach are one or more digestive glands or digestive caeca. Digestive enzymes are secreted into the lumen of these glands. Additional extracellular digestion takes place in the stomach. In cephalopods, digestion is entirely extracellular. In the most other ...