small organic molecules are the part of the food that is broken down in the stomach.
small organic molecules are the part of the food that is broken down in the stomach.
what part of the food is broken down in the stomach?
small organic molecules
in the human digestive system, a bolus (a small rounded mass of chewed up food) enters the stomach through the oesophagus via the lower oesophageal 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. food is churned by the stomach through muscular contractions of the wall called peristalsis – reducing the volume of the bolus, before looping around the fundus and the body of stomach as the boluses are converted into chyme (partially digested food). chyme slowly passes through the pyloric sphincter and into the duodenum of the small intestine, where the extraction of nutrients begins. depending on the quantity and contents of the meal, the stomach will digest the food into chyme within anywhere between forty minutes and a few hours . the average human stomach can comfortably hold about a litre of food.
stomach
the stomach of the cat can be divided into distinct regions of motor activity. the proximal end of the stomach relaxes when food is digested. while food is being digested this portion of the stomach either has rapid stationary contractions or a sustained tonic contraction of muscle. these different actions result in either the food being moved around or the food moving towards the distal portion of the stomach. the distal portion of the stomach undergoes rhythmic cycles of partial depolarization. this depolarization sensitizes muscle cells so they are more likely to contract. the stomach is not only a muscular structure, it also serves a chemical function by releasing hydrochloric acid and other digestive enzymes to break down food.
cat anatomy