Question

What is chyme?

Answer 1

Hint: Stomach is a muscular organ which is located on the left side of the upper abdomen and it receives food from esophagus. Chyme basically passes from the stomach to the small intestine.

Complete answer:
During the process of food digestion, when the food enters the stomach, gastric juice is secreted by the gastric gland. The food gets mixed with the juice by the movements of the muscular wall of the stomach. This partially digested food with gastric juice is called chyme. Chyme is a thick and acidic semi-fluid that is transported from the stomach to the small intestine.

The digestive juices are formed by the gastric glands. The secretions of digestive glands include the enzyme pepsin, which breaks down proteins, and hydrochloric acid. When the food enters the small intestine, it stimulates the pancreas to release fluid containing a high concentration of bicarbonate. This fluid basically neutralizes the highly acidic gastric juice, which would otherwise damage the membrane lining of the intestine. Other secretions from the pancreas, gallbladder, liver, and glands in the intestinal wall add to the total volume of chyme.
The chyme contains food, water, salivary secretions, gastric secretions, and partially digested carbohydrates and proteins in the stomach.

The major functions of chyme are:
1.It increases the surface area of food to allow digestive enzymes to complete their work
2.It stimulates various digestive glands to release their secretions.

Note: It is to be noted that chyme is different from chyle, as it is formed when the fats within the food also start getting digested in the small intestine. Chyle, therefore, contains emulsified fatty acids, in addition to carbohydrates and proteins in various stages of digestion.