Question

State the role of pancreatic juice in the digestion of proteins.

Answer 1

Hint:
 The pancreas secretes many enzymes out of which some are digestive enzymes that help in completing the digestion. These enzymes act upon food particles, as well as on proteins to degrade them into simpler forms.

Complete answer:
> The pancreas is the organ which is located in the upper left abdomen behind the stomach. It has an important role in converting the food we eat into the fuel of the body.
> Pancreatic juice contains a variety of inactive enzymes that are essential for digestion, which include trypsin, carboxypeptidases, chymotrypsin, amylases, lipases etc.
> The enzyme enterokinase activates trypsinogen into trypsin. Trypsin then activates the other enzymes of pancreatic juice such as chymotrypsinogen and carboxypeptidases.
> Chymotrypsinogen is a milk-coagulating enzyme that converts proteins into peptides.
> Carboxypeptidases act on the peptide chain and help release the last amino acids. Hence, it helps in the digestion of proteins.

Additional information:
Exocrine functions of pancreas include:
a) When the food enters the stomach these juices are released into a system of ducts that joins to the main pancreatic duct.
b) Another duct called the common bile duct originates in the liver and gallbladder and produces another important digestive juice called the bile juice.

Note:In short, we can say that the partially hydrolyzed proteins present in the stomach are acted upon by various proteolytic enzymes of the pancreatic juice for their complete digestion and absorption.