Feeding & Digestion
These are the three major food macromolecules your GI tract is designed to digest.
What are fats, carbohydrates, and proteins?
This acid creates an incredibly high acidity in the stomach (low pH) which helps denature protein and kill microbes that may enter our gut via the food we eat.
What is HCl?
This is an example of an increased physiological response that happens when an animal perceives a threat (Hint: there are at least four).
What is increased heart rate, blood flow to skeletal muscles, glucose mobilization, and water retention?
The liver responds to epinephrine by releasing this energy monomer from this energy chain.
What are glucose and glycogen?
Some amino acids that cannot be created by the body and need to be acquired via the diet as a result.
What are essential amino acids?
The high acidity of the stomach converts this polypeptide from its precursor into its active form which starts the chemical process of protein digestion in our gut (including digesting its inactive precursor creating more of itself!).
What is pepsin?
This is an example of a decreased physiological response that happens when an animal perceives a threat.
What is decreased digestion, growth, immune response, and blood flow to non-essential organs (i.e. the GI tract)?
This hormone fluctuates daily but is highest in the mornings which helps the body mobilize the energy necessary to start your day.
What is cortisol?
These are acquired through the diet or supplemented using pills and act as coenzymes that aid in the normal functioning of our body’s enzymes.
What are vitamins?
When the contents of the stomach first enter the small intestine (duodenum) this molecule is released by the pancreas to neutralize the pH.
What is bicarbonate?
Activation of this branch of your autonomic nervous system is crucial for a rapid stress response.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which is released by the hypothalamus, acts on the pituitary gland causing the release of this hormone.
What is Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)?
Mechanical digestion works by increasing the _________ of the food we eat to make it more accessible to the digestive enzymes responsible for chemical digestion.
What is surface area?
These structures greatly increase the surface area of the small intestine ensuring optimal absorption of food occurs via diffusion across the lining of the small intestine.
What are microvilli?
This gland sits atop the kidney and releases the primary hormones that govern the stress response.
What is the adrenal gland?
Cortisol acts on this area of the brain which controls memory and learning. Optimal amounts of cortisol enhance these processes, but too much cortisol can impair them and damage this area of the brain.
What is the hippocampus?
Digestion of carbohydrates starts in the _______, via salivary amylase.
What is the mouth?
This rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the smooth muscles that line the various organs of our GI tract keeps food moving.
What is peristalsis?
Surprise! Digestion Question: To absorb this food monomer into our bodies, we rely on the high concentration gradient of Na+ in the lumen of our small intestine and a co-transporter (Fun fact: amino acid absorption relies on these same two things!).
What is glucose?
These are the mechanisms by which epinephrine acts on blood vessels to decrease and increase blood flow to non-essential organs and skeletal muscle, respectively.
What are vasoconstriction and vasodilation?