Question

Explain the role of pancreatic juice in digestion.

Answer 1

Hint: In the duodenum, two juices work. These juices include the bile juice from the liver and the pancreatic juice from the pancreas. The pancreatic juice is carried by the pancreatic duct and the bile juice is carried by the common bile duct.

Complete answer: The pancreatic juice is a complete juice because it has all types of enzymes. The pancreatic juice can only work in the alkaline medium that is provided by the bile juice. The pancreatic juice consists of the enzymes like trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, elastase, carboxypeptidase, amylase or amylopsin, lipase or steapsin, and nuclease. The trypsinogen is the inactive form of trypsin. It is activated by the enterokinase enzyme of the ileum. It is also an auto-catalytic or self-activator enzyme. It converts the polypeptides and peptones into the dipeptide. The chymotrypsinogen is the inactive form of chymotrypsin. It is activated by the enterokinase enzyme of the ileum. It converts the milk proteins or the casein into curd or paracasein.
a) The elastase enzyme digests the fibrous proteins.
b) The carboxypeptidase enzyme digests proteins into the amino acids.
c) The amylopsin enzyme digests polysaccharides into the disaccharide maltose.
d)The lipase enzyme digests triglycerides into the diglycerides after emulsification.
e) The nuclease enzyme digests the nucleic acids into the nucleotides.

Note: The pancreatic duct is also known as the wiring duct. The common bile duct is made up of two ducts which are the hepatic duct from the liver and the cystic duct from the gallbladder. The pancreatic duct and the common bile duct together from the hepato-pancreatic duct.