Chapter 1

Life Processes
Part 2
Heterotrophic nutrition
• A type of nutrition where an organism depends on another organism
to fulfil its food requirements.
• A heterotrophic organism is known as Consumer whereas plants are
known as Producers.
• All organisms depend on plants for their nutritional requirements
either directly or indirectly.
Types of heterotrophic nutrition
1. Holozoic

2. Saprophytic

3. Parasitic
Holozoic nutrition
• A type of heterotrophic nutrition which is characterised by the
internalization and internal processing of gaseous, liquid or solid
food particles.
• Examples- protozoan such as amoeba, most of the free living
organisms such as humans etc.
Saprophytic nutrition
• A type of heterotrophic nutrition characterised by dependence on
dead and decaying organic matter to fulfil food demand.
• Examples- fungi and soil bacteria.
Parasitic nutrition
• A mode of nutrition where one organism depends on the other living
organism for its nutritional requirements.
• The organism that uptakes food is called as a Parasite and the one
which provides food is known as Host.
• Parasites are generally associated with the body of their hosts.
• Parasites may be:
1. Ectoparasite: lives on the body surface. Ex- Cuscutta
2. Endoparasite: lives inside the host’s body. Ex- Hookworms,
flatworms etc.
Human nutrition
• Humans exhibit a holozoic type of heterotrophic nutrition.
• Humans have a specific system of organs associated with nutrition
called as the Digestive system.
• Digestive system has 2 components:
1. Alimentary canal.
2. Various glands.
 Alimentary canal
• It is a long tube extending from the mouth to anus.
• It consists of
1. Oral cavity
2. Oesophagus
3. Stomach
4. Small intestine
5. Large intestine
6. Caecum and appendix
7. Rectum
8. Anus

❑ The length of alimentary canal depends upon the type of substance present in maximum amount in food.
Therefore herbivores have a longer digestive tract as compared to carnivores because cellulose digestion takes
a longer time.
Gland associated with alimentary canal
1. Salivary glands

2. Liver

3. Pancreas

4. Various other glands such as gastric, intestinal glands etc.

• In human beings, nutrition has the following steps:
1. Ingestion
2. Digestion
3. Absorption
4. Assimilation
5. Egestion
Ingestion
• The uptake of food through oral cavity/buccal cavity or mouth.
• Structures present inside the mouth:
1. Teeth- 32 in number (generally 28 are present).
4 types of teeth are present in humans:
a) Incisors – biting teeth
b) Canines- tearing teeth
c) Premolars- chewing and mastication
d) Molars- chewing and mastication
Mastication: the process of breaking down large food particles into smaller
particles. It is a mechanical process and does not require any enzymes.
2. Tongue- it is muscular organ inside oral cavity and performs the following
functions:
1. Helps in proper mixing of food with saliva
2. Helps in moistening the oral cavity by means of saliva.
3. Helps in speech process.
4. Taste perception by means of taste buds present on the surface. (Sweet,
sour, salty and bitter)

▪ The food is properly mixed with saliva and converted into a small ball like
structure which is known as Bolus.
▪ This bolus then moves into oesophagus by the process of deglutition or
swallowing.
▪ The bolus reaches the pharynx which is the common passage for food and
air.
• Oesophagus- also called as food pipe.
• It is a hollow tube present on the dorsally to the wind pipe.
• It only performs a transport function I.e., it transfers the food from mouth
to the stomach. No digestive process takes place in the oesophagus.
• The upper one third of oesophagus close to oral cavity is voluntary
whereas the lower two third part is involuntary.
• The oesophagus is lined by mucus which helps in easy passage of food and
prevents any injury to the food pipe.
• The passage of food downwards is aided by gravity and continuous
movements of the entire alimentary canal known as Peristalsis.
• Peristalsis- These are involuntary movements of the circular and
longitudinal muscle layers that occur in progressive wave like contractions.
These movements help in forward propulsion of food inside the digestive
tract.
Stomach
• It is a J- shaped muscular bag which is responsible for most of the
initial digestion of dietary protein.
• The muscle layers of stomach cause a churning movement of the
stomach wall which is responsible for proper mixing of food with HCL
and gastric juice.
• The opening of esophagus into stomach is guarded by a sphincter
known as Oesophageal sphincter/Cardiac sphincter (a muscle acting
as a one way valve) which normally prevents the back flow of food
from stomach to oral cavity.
Parts of stomach
• Stomach is divided into 3 parts:
1. Cardiac part- oesophagus opens in this part.

2. Fundus- only air is present.

3. Body- digestive processes take place here.

4. Pyloric- terminal part which opens into small intestine.

Small intestine
• It is a long coiled tube which lies between stomach and large
intestine.
• It is the site where terminal digestion and maximum absorption of
food takes place.
• Small intestine and large intestine are named as per their diameter
and not their lengths.
• Small intestine receives various secretions from liver and pancreas
and also produces intestinal juice which aid in digestion process.
Parts of small intestine
• It can be divided into 3 parts:
1. Duodenum

2. Jejunum

3. Ileum (not ilium- ilium is a bone of pelvis)

Large intestine
• It is also known as colon. It is also a tubular organ where the undigested
food is converted into feces for removal from the body.
##Feces appear yellow due to the presence of Stercobilin pigment which is
formed as a byproduct of heme degradation
• Large intestine has many pouch like appearing structures called as Haustra.
• It can be divided into 4 parts:
1. Ascending colon
2. Transverse colon
3. Descending colon
4. Sigmoid colon
Caecum and appendix
• Caecum is a blind sac like structure present at the junction of small
and large intestine.
• Vermiform appendix or simply appendix is a small sac of tissue
located in the first part of colon or caecum.
• Appendix is said to be vestigial in humans I.e., it does not have a
function in modern day humans.
• However, recent studies have shown that appendix plays some role
in immune function and also it harbours good bacteria which can be
used to repopulate the gut if the bacteria die of some reason such as
antibiotic treatment, chronic diarrhoea etc.
Rectum and anus
• The feces formed in the large intestine are stored temporarily in
rectum until there is an urge for defecation(passing feces out of the
body).
• The feces pass out of the body through anus.
• Rectal itching and bleeding is common in children due to certain
parasites that reside in rectum and cause discomfort.
Digestion of food
• Digestion is the breakdown of complex organic biomolecules into simple
forms which can be used and absorbed by the body.
• The initial step of digestion begins in mouth by the action of saliva on food.
• Saliva is a watery secretion from salivary glands located inside the oral
cavity.
• Salivary glands are of 3 types:
1. Parotid gland
2. Sub-mandibular
3. Sublingual.
• Saliva contains an enzyme called as Salivary amylase or Ptylin which acts
on starch present in the food and converts about 30% of the starch into
maltose.
 Functions of saliva

1. Conversion of starch into maltose.

2. Antibacterial properties.
3. Helps in moistening the bolus for easy passage.
4. Helps in cleaning the teeth with the help of tongue.
Digestion process in stomach
• After oral cavity the bolus passes through oesophagus where no digestion takes place.
• Stomach is the main site for initial digestion of proteins. Digestion of carbohydrates,
lipids etc. is bare minimum.
• Stomach contains gastric glands which produce gastric juice and conc. HCl which
maintain a highly acidic environment of ph= 1 to 3.5. The acidic food in stomach is called
as Chyme.
• The main enzyme present in gastric juice is Pepsin which is released as pro enzyme
(inactive form) pepsinogen.
• It gets activated in the presence of HCl to pepsin and breaks down large proteins into
smaller proteoses and peptones.
• Gastric juice also contains lipase but it does not function well due to highly acidic
environment.
• Stomach is also lined my mucus to prevent injury and damage due to highly corrosive
action of HCl.
Digestion in small intestine
• Small intestine is the site of maximum digestion and absorption of
food.
• It receives enzymes from pancreas and bile juice from liver and gall
bladder.
• Digestion process is completed in small intestine.
• Small intestine produces Succus entericus (intestinal juice) which
contain enzymes for the complete digestion of all sorts of
biomolecules.
Liver and gall bladder
• Liver is the largest gland of human body.( largest organ is Skin)
• It performs numerous important functions out of which two very
important functions are detoxification and bile juice production.
• Bile juice is essential for digestion of lipids or fats.
• Bile juice= bile salts + bile pigments. Bile does not contain any enzyme.
• Bile juice released from liver is highly basic in nature and is temporarily
stored in a sac like organ called gall bladder.
• By means of common bile duct, liver and gall bladder pour bile into the
duodenum part of small intestine.
• Bile helps in the emulsification (breakdown of large droplets into smaller
droplets) of fats which increases the surface area for the lipases to work
properly.
Pancreas
• It is a heterocrine gland which produces pancreatic juice that contain
several enzymes which aid in the digestion of food in small intestine.
• The main enzymes include trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, procarboxy-
peptidase ,amylase, nucleases and lipases.
• Pancreatic secretion is poured into small intestine by means of
hepatopancreatic duct. (Common bile duct + duct from pancreas)
• Trypsinogen is activated by an enzyme called Enterokinase(secreted by
small intestine) to its active form trypsin.
• Trypsin converts procarboxyxpeptidase into its active form carboxy
peptidase. Trypsin and carboxy peptidase together help in digestion of
proteins.
 Protein digestion
In stomach by the action of
pepsin
Proteoses and
• Protein peptones
In small intestine by the
action of trypsin and
carboxy-peptidase

Amino acids: Small peptides

Simplest absorbable form
of proteins. Action of Succus
entericus
 Carbohydrates digestion
• Starch in mouth Salivary amylase in the
presence of Cl- ions
30% converted to maltose + 70% starch

In the intestine after action of

pancreatic amylase

Disaccharidases in
Monosaccharides Succus entericus Various Disaccharides
(Glucose, fructose, galactose etc) (A disaccharide has two sugar
Simplest absorbable forms. molecules linked together)
Fat digestion
• Fats/lipids Reach intestine
Almost no digestion by
gastric lipase

Emulsification by bile juice

Pancreatic
Diglygerides and Lipase Micelles (small
monoglycerides droplets)

Succus entericus Fatty acids + glycerol

Simple absorbable form
DNA/RNA (Nucleotides digestion)
• Genetic material(nucleic acids) Nucleases (DNAse and RNAse)
Nucleotides

Nucleotidase in pancreatic
juice

Sugar + nitrogenous Nucleosides

bases Nucleosidase in
Succus entericus
Absorption
• The process by which simple absorbable forms of various nutrients are taken up by the
body is known as absorption.
• The major site of absorption is small intestine where digestion process is completed.
• The wall of intestine is thrown into numerous folds or finger-like projections called as Villi.
• The plasma membrane of epithelium cells of the intestine is also thrown in numerous
foldings which provide a brush border like appearance. These foldings are known as
Microvilli.
• Villi and microvilli increase the surface area for the absorption of food.
• Numerous blood vessels line the wall of intestine so that nutrients can be absorbed into
the blood stream.
• However, fatty acids cannot be directly absorbed into blood. So they are firsttaken up by
lymph and later released into circulation.
• Some absorption also takes place in other parts of digestive tracts
such as oral cavity, stomach, large intestine etc.
• Certain drugs can be absorbed into capillaries under the lower side
of tongue.
• Some amount of water and alcohol absorption takes place in
stomach.
• A large amount of water is absorbed in the large intestine along with
certain drugs.
Assimilation
• The absorbed substances ultimately reach their target organs/tissues
which utilise them for various purposes.
• This process is known as assimilation.
Egestion
• It refers to passage of undigested food material out of the body in
the form of feces.
• Egestion and excretion are not the same terms and are not inter-
changeable.
• In the colon, undigested food along with mucus, water and dietary
fibres is converted to feces which are later passed out by means of
rectum and anus.
• Dietary fibres or roughage is essential for proper bowel movements
and cleaning of digestive tract.
What about Vitamins and minerals
• Vitamins are organic compounds required by body in minute quantities
but they are essential for the normal functioning of body and metabolism.
• Vitamins are:
1. Fat soluble- vitamin A, D, E and K.
2. Water soluble- vitamin B complex and vitamin C.
• Minerals are inorganic elements that play a vital role in body.
• Example: calcium is essential for bones and teeth, phosphorus for ATP and
associated compounds, Sodium for osmotic pressure maintenance etc.
• Vitamins and minerals have to be obtained from diet as they are not
synthesised in the human body.
Disorders of digestive system
• Jaundice- inflammation of liver takes place. Skin and eyes turn yellow
due to deposition of bile pigments.
• Vomiting- ejection of stomach contents through mouth. This is a
reflex action controlled by medulla. This is. It an exception to
peristalsis.
• Diarrhoea- abnormal frequency of bowel movement and increased
liquidity of fecal discharge. It reduces the absorption of food.
• Constipation- feces are retained within the rectum as bowel
movement occurs irregularly.