Digestive System Basics
This is the function of the digestive system—converting food into usable energy and materials.
What is breaking down food into energy and raw materials?
This is a small rounded mass of chewed food ready to be swallowed.
What is a bolus?
This is the unit used to measure energy in food.
What are calories?
These are the simplest forms of food molecules.
What are monomers?
These are the four main structures of the urinary system.
What are the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra?
This is the connection between the stomach and the small intestine.
What is the duodenum?
This enzyme in saliva begins digestion by breaking down starch.
What is amylase?
These are the six essential nutrients the body needs.
What are water, carbohydrates, lipids (fats), proteins, vitamins, and minerals?
This type of reaction breaks down complex molecules into simpler ones.
What is a catabolic reaction?
This is the main function of the urinary system—filtering blood and maintaining balance.
What is filtering blood and regulating water, ions, and pH?
This is the approximate total length of the digestive tract.
What is about 30 feet?
This layer of the GI tract contains smooth muscle and is responsible for peristalsis.
What is the muscularis externa?
This term refers to all biochemical reactions in the body.
What is metabolism?
This type of reaction builds complex molecules from simpler ones.
What is an anabolic reaction?
These are the three major regions of the kidney.
What are the renal cortex, renal medulla, and renal pelvis?
This organ processes nutrients after absorption into the bloodstream.
What is the liver?
These are the four layers of the GI tract.
What are mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and serosa?
This state occurs after eating and typically lasts about 4 hours.
What is the absorptive state?
This substance is a steroid made by the liver and found in cell membranes.
What is cholesterol?
This is the process the kidneys use to filter blood.
What is glomerular filtration?
These are the six steps of digestion: ingestion, propulsion, mechanical digestion, chemical digestion, absorption, and defecation.
What are the six steps of digestion?
These are the three phases of gastric secretion and where they occur.
What are the cephalic (brain), gastric (stomach), and intestinal (small intestine) phases?
This hormone and system primarily regulate the postabsorptive (fasting) state.
What are glucagon and the sympathetic nervous system?
These are the four ways glucose can be produced in the body.
What are glycogen breakdown (liver), gluconeogenesis from glycerol, protein breakdown, and glycogen use in muscle?
This is why females are more prone to UTIs than males.
What is a shorter urethra allowing easier bacterial entry?