Nutrition, Digestion, and Absorption

1. 51 Nutrition, Digestion, and Absorption http://www.nigeldennis.com/stock/images/mammals/species/giraffe/25955.jpg

2. Animals are heterotrophs • derive nutrition by eating other organisms Autotrophs • can synthesize their necessary nutrients • heterotrophs depend on this synthesis and have adapted to take advantage of it

3. Energy needs can be measured Measures of heat energy: • calorie is amount of heat needed to raise 1 gram of water 1°C • Very small amount • A kilocalorie(kcal) = 1,000 calories • Kilocalories are used by nutritionists and scientists but refer to them as calories Calorimeter used to measure energy content www.parrinst.com/dynamic_images

4. www.pathology.vcu.edu/WirSelfInst/image Animals must store food between meals • Carbohydrates stored in liver and muscle cells as glycogen — enough for about one day’s energy needs • Fat stores more energy per gram and with little water, making it more compact Muscle fibers with glycogen storage vacuoles Adipose tissue – cells almost completely filled with fat vacuole www.bluegrass.kctcs.edu/LCC/BSN/BIO/BiologyLabs/BIO137/137Tissues

5. Undernourished • too little food taken in and metabolism of body’s own molecules begins • Protein is lost rapidly to protein synthesis • Glycogen and fat are broken down • Decreased protein can lead to edema in abdomen

6. Overnourished • more food taken in than needed • excess stored as increased body mass • Glycogen reserves are built up • Extra carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are converted to body fat “Fat cat” www.mypkhome.com/fatcat/

7. Amino acids are building blocks of proteins • Each species has essential amino acids that they cannot synthesize • Complementary diets can supply all eight essential amino acids for adult humans • Other amino acids are conditionally essential www.mitavite.com.au/graphs

8. Macronutrients – elements required in large amounts, like calcium Micronutrients – elements required in tiny amounts, like iron Vitamins – carbon compounds that cannot be synthesized • Species-specific • Water-soluble or fat-soluble

9. www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/contents/images How organisms acquire nutrition: • Saprobes absorb nutrients from dead organic matter -- mushrooms • Detritivores actively feed on dead organic matter – pillbug • Predators feed on living organisms Pillbug http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/phil_myers/ADW_misc_inverts

10. www.gpnc.org/images/jpegs/animals Predators can be: • Herbivores — consume plants • Carnivores — prey on animals • Omnivores — prey on both Bos bison Canis lupes Sus scrofa www.hedweb.com/animimag www.spiritwolf52.com/Wallpapers/Wolf/

11. www.cs.brown.edu/people/twd/fish/Curacao • Filter feeders filter small organisms from an aquatic environment, including baleen whales, clams • Fluid feeders include mosquitoes, vampire bats, nectivorous birds Spirobranchus giganteus Diaemus youngi www.utexas.edu/research/rsc/images

12. Mammalian teeth have similar structure • Enamel composed of calcium phosphate covers crown • Dentine is in crown and root • Pulp cavity contains blood vessels, nerves and dentine-producing cells

13. Mammalian teeth have shapes adapted to specific diets: • Incisors: used for cutting, chopping, or gnawing • Canines: for stabbing, gripping, or ripping • Molars and premolars: shearing, crushing, or grinding http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/anatomical_images/rodent_jaws/zygoplate.jpg

14. Digestion in animals is extracellular and usually begins in a body cavity • Gastrovascular cavities connect to outside through single opening • Tubular (complete) guts • Opening at each end • Mouth takes in food and wastes eliminated via anus www.cbu.edu/~seisen

15. http://ltreadwell.ifas.ufl.edu/insects Food is broken up mechanically in mouth cavity by teeth, radula (snails), or mandibles (arthropods) • Birds grind food with small stones in gizzards • Stomachs and crops are storage chambers that allow for gradual digestion http://www.biologycorner.com/resources/bird_anatomy.jpg

16. Small food particles are delivered into midgut or intestines • Nutrients are absorbed in midgut • Hindgut recovers ions and water and stores feces • Muscular rectum expels feces http://eregimens.com/images/regimens/digestion.jpg

17. http://missinglink.ucsf.edu/lm/IDS_106_LowerGI/Lower%20GI/ASSETS/smallintestanat.jpghttp://missinglink.ucsf.edu/lm/IDS_106_LowerGI/Lower%20GI/ASSETS/smallintestanat.jpg In bony fishes, and tetrapods, the gut wall has folds with projections called villi • Surface cells of villi have smaller projections called microvilli http://www.jpp.krakow.pl/journal/archive/0605_s3/gfx/rys0513_16.jpg

18. Macromolecules are broken down by digestive enzymes, known by substances they hydrolyze • Protease – breaks bonds of amino acids • Carbohydrase – breaksdown carbohydrates • Peptidase – peptides • Lipase – fats • Nuclease – nucleic acids http://library.thinkquest.org/2935/Natures_Best/Nat_Best_High_Level/Digestive_Net_Pages/Digestive_Graphics/Digetive_diagram.gif

19. Digestive enzymes are produced in an inactive form – a zymogen • Cannot act on cells that produce it • In gut, zymogen is activated by another enzyme • Cells lining gut are protected from enzymes by mucus http://www.joplink.net/prev/200103/2_fig2.gif

21. Vertebrate gut has layered plan • Lumen– gut cavity • Mucosa • Layer of epithelial cells (mucosal epithelium) that secretes mucus, digestive enzymes or hormones • some absorb nutrients via microvilli • Submucosahas blood and lymph vessels, and nerves • Circularmuscle layer • innermost cells oriented around gut • constricts gut • Longitudinal muscle layer • outermost cells oriented along gut • shortens gut

22. Mechanical activity in digestion: • Tongue pushes food bolus to soft palate, and initiates swallowing • Food passes into esophagus • Food kept out of trachea by closed larynx and the epiglottis

23. Peristalsis • Waves of muscle contractions that move food toward stomach • Parts of esophagus are either skeletal muscle or smooth muscle • As food reaches smooth muscle, esophagus contracts and pushes food toward the stomach

24. Chief cells • Secrete pepsinogen – inactive form of proteolytic enzyme, pepsin • Low pH of stomach converts it to active form • Newly active pepsin activates other pepsinogen molecules — process called autocatalysis

25. Stomach releases contents to the small intestine • Chyme is mixture of gastric juice and partly digested food • Stomach walls contract and move chyme to bottom of stomach • Pyloric sphincter allows small amounts to enter small intestine

26. Most chemical digestion occurs in the small intestine Small intestine has three sections • Duodenum – initial section and site of most digestion • Jejunum and ileum – carry out most of nutrient absorption http://digestion0.tripod.com/images

27. Liver • synthesizes bile salts and secretes them as bile • flows through hepatic duct to duodenum •  through branch to gallbladder • Fat entering duodenum signals gallbladder to contract • Bile released and flows via common bile duct to duodenum

28. Contents of small intestine pass into large intestine, or colon • Absorbs water and ions, and produces feces • Too much water absorption leads to constipation… • Too little leads to diarrhea www.cdc.gov/colorectalcancer/basic_info/

29. Large populations of bacteria live in the colon • includes Escherichia coli • synthesizes vitamin K and biotin that are absorbed across colon wall • Prolonged intake of antibiotics can kill normal intestinal bacteria and upset floral balance  • digestive problems • vitamin deficiency www.microbeworld.org/img/aboutmicro/gallery

30. Herbivores cannot produce cellulases— enzymes that break down cellulose • Rely on symbiotic microorganisms living within digestive tracts to digest cellulose The protozoa  Trichonympha lives in each termite's gut and breaks down cellulose so termite can obtain nutrition from its food. www.durable-wood.com/termites/ www.termarid.com/images/

31. Ruminants (cud chewers) • Have four-chambered stomachs: rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum • Rumen and reticulum contain microorganisms that metabolize cellulose into nutrients for host Dusty the llama www.bar-q-diamond.com/llamas/Pictures http://simulium.bio.uottawa.ca/bio2525/images/

32. www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Lists/Glossary/Images Cecum • Fermentation chamber in some species • Nutrient absorption is incomplete from undigested food • In humans, the appendix is just off the cecum • Long thought to have no function (vestigial) • May function as refuge for bacterial flora or in immunity http://www.toilet-related-ailments.com/images/CecumColorNew.jpg

33. Lipoproteins produced in liver are classified by density (more fat  lower density) • High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) remove cholesterol from tissue and carry it to liver – “good” • Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) transport cholesterol in body – “bad” • Very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDLs) transport triglycerides to fat cells. http://distance.stcc.edu/AandP/AP/imagesAP2/blood/

34. Insulin • released by pancreas during absorptive period, when blood glucose rises • Insulin promotes uptake and utilization or storage of glucose • Acts in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, and liver