Question

Mar. 9-10

What occurs when chyme moves too slowly through the large intestines, leading to the
reabsorption of too much water?

Answer 1

Chyme, a thick semifluid mass of partially digested food and digestive secretions that is formed in the stomach and intestine during digestion. In the stomach, digestive juices are formed by the gastric glands; these secretions include the enzyme pepsin, which breaks down proteins, and hydrochloric acid. Once food is in the small intestine, it stimulates the pancreas to release fluid containing a high concentration of bicarbonate. This fluid neutralizes the highly acidic gastric juice, which would otherwise damage the membrane lining of the intestine, resulting in a duodenal ulcer. Other secretions from the pancreas, gallbladder, liver, and glands in the intestinal wall add to the total volume of chyme.

Muscular contractions of the stomach walls help to mix food and digestive substances together in forming chyme. As particles of food become small enough, they are passed at regular intervals into the small intestine. Once in the intestine, more enzymes are added and mixing continues. When food particles are sufficiently reduced in size and composition, they are absorbed by the intestinal wall and transported to the bloodstream. Some food material is passed from the small intestine to the large intestine, or colon. In the colon, chyme is acted upon by bacteria that break down the proteins, starches, and some plant fibres not totally digested by the other organs. In both the small and the large intestine, water is normally absorbed so the chyme gradually gets thicker. As chyme passes through the stomach and intestine, it picks up cellular debris and other types of waste products. When all of the nutrients have been absorbed from chyme, the remaining waste material passes to the end of the large intestine, the sigmoid colon and rectum, to be stored as fecal matter until it is ready to be excreted from the body.

Answer 2

Chyme released from the stomach enters the small intestine, which is the primary digestive organ in the body. Not only is this where most digestion occurs, it is also where practically all absorption occurs. The longest part of the alimentary canal, the small intestine is about 3.05 meters (10 feet) long in a living person (but about twice as long in a cadaver due to the loss of muscle tone). Since this makes it about five times longer than the large intestine, you might wonder why it is called “small.” In fact, its name derives from its relatively smaller diameter of only about 2.54 cm (1 in), compared with 7.62 cm (3 in) for the large intestine. As we’ll see shortly, in addition to its length, the folds and projections of the lining of the small intestine work to give it an enormous surface area, which is approximately 200 m2, more than 100 times the surface area of your skin. This large surface area is necessary for complex processes of digestion and absorption that occur within it.