Friday, March 27, 2009

Mouth

Open your mouth and say "Ahhhhh"




Food enters your mouth which leads to the buccal cavity. In your mouth there are:

Pharynx


"Just as Kevin took a bite of his hot dog, his friend Peter made a goofy face and it cracked Kevin up. But it's hard to laugh and swallow food at the same time. A piece of the hot dog slipped down Kevin's throat and got stuck. He couldn't talk, he couldn't breathe — he couldn't make any sound at all.

At first Peter thought Kevin couldn't catch his breath because he was laughing so hard. But when Kevin started waving his hands and grabbing at his throat, Peter knew his friend was in trouble. He yelled for help.

A teacher rushed over to Kevin and performed a technique called the Heimlich maneuver (say: hime-lik mah-noo-ver), which caused the hot dog piece to shoot out of Kevin's mouth and land a good 6 feet away. Gross, yes. But that teacher saved Kevin's life."

What connects the mouth to the rest of the organs involved in digestion?

The pharynx connects the buccal cavity to the oesophagus and the larynx (voice box). It is part of the digestive and respiratory system.

Both food and air must pass through the pharynx when they enter the body. Air goes down the trachea and food goes down the oesophagus. How is the food prevented from going down the wrong way?

What would happen if food particles were not forced out of the trachea?

Oesophagus

Say (e-so-pha-gus). Yes! That's right! Oesophagus!

The oesophagus or gullet is a narrow, muscular tube that passes through the thorax and diaghragm to join the stomach.

The wall of the oesphagus is made up of two layers of muscles. What are these two layers of muscles?

These two sets of muscles produces a set of wave like contractions of the gut walls and this movement is known as peristalsis.

Can you describe how these two sets of muscles work together to move food along the gut?


Stomach

BURP!!! *excuse me*

Ah.... so full now... hee hee!!!

Have you felt really really full that your stomach feels like it is going to burst anytime?

The stomach is located between the oesophagus and the small intestine. The stomach is a muscular bag is made up of several layers of smooth muscle and connective tissues.



The stomach has several functions. Click here and identify 3 functions of the stomach.

The stomach wall has several pits that lead to gastric glands that secretes gastric juice into the stomach cavity. What does the gastric juice contains?

Enzymes are also secreted into the stomach to break down the food into smaller substances. What are these enzymes?

Watch this video to find out about enzymes in our stomach.

After the food is digested in the stomach, it moves into the small intestine.

There is a ring of muscle known as the pyloric sphincter located at the place where the stomach joins the small intestine. Why is there a need for the pyloric sphincter?

Small intestine

The small intestine consists of the duodenum, jejunum and the ileum. The small intestine is about 6 metres long.

Are there enzymes secreted in the small intestine?

What are these enzymes?

What are the functions of the small intestine?


Click here to see if you have found the functions of the small intestine.

This is how the inside of the small intestine looks like.

Liver

The liver is the largest gland in the body and it plays an important role in the body.

There are three blood vessels attached to the liver. What are these three blood vessels?



The liver has several functions such as:
  • Detoxification
  • Protein synthesis
  • Secretion of bile for digestion
What is bile?

What is the function of bile?

Gall Bladder



Bile is stored temporary in the gall bladder. When the gall bladder contracts, bile flows into the duodenum via the bile duct.

Pancreas




The pancreas is a gland connected to the duodenum by the pancreatic duct. The bile duct joins the pancreatic duct just before the pancreatic duct opens into the duodenum.

The pancreas produces pancreatic juice which contains some special stuff. What is this special stuff all about?

The pancreas also secrete hormones. What are hormones? And what are these hormones in the pancreas used for?

Large Intestine



The large intestine is about 1.5 metres long and it consists of:

  • Colon
  • Rectum
The caesum and the appendix is found at the junction between the colon and the intestine. They have no specific function in humans.

What is the function of the large intestine?