Question

What are digestive juices?

Answer 1

Hint: The digestive process starts in your mouth when you chew. Your salivary glands make saliva, a digestive juice, which moistens food so it moves more easily through your esophagus into your stomach.

Complete answer:
Digestive juices are the juices secreted from different glands to help in the digestion process. Numerous organs in the digestive system contribute to the release of digestive juices. The salivary glands, stomach, liver, pancreas, and small intestine are among these organs.

Salivary Gland: When the food is still being physically chewed in the mouth, begin chemical digestion. Salivary amylase is made, which aids in the breakdown of glucose polymers (e.g., starch)

Stomach: Produces stomach acids, which help with the chemical breakdown of food. To serve as the first site of protein digestion, it secretes proteases. The activation of stomach proteases (e.g., pepsinogen to pepsin) is usually dependent on acid conditions.

Liver: Bile is produced, which is responsible for fat emulsification (separates fats globules to enhance lipase activity). The gallbladder stores bile formed by the liver before it is released.

Pancreas: To neutralise stomach acids, it secretes bicarbonate ions into the duodenum (intestine pH is normally 7–8). Lipase (for fat digestion), amylase (for carbohydrate digestion), and protease are often secreted (for protein digestion). Enzymes, not acidic conditions, cause pancreatic proteases (enterokinase converts trypsinogen to trypsin).

Small Intestine: The crypts of Lieberkuhn, which are found between intestinal villi, secrete digestive juices. In the small intestine, digestive enzymes are typically immobilised on the epithelial membrane (e.g., maltase). The enzymes are not separated from the body as part of the natural digestion process. It also concentrates digestive goods at membrane protein-rich sites.

Note: Gastrin, secretin, and cholecystokinin (CCK) are the chemicals that regulate digestion. Gastrin allows the stomach to emit acid, which helps to dissolve and digest certain foods. It is also required for the normal development of the stomach, small intestine, and colon linings.