Thursday, June 18, 2009

Mr. Apple goes through the digestive system


Mr Apple is a very happy Apple ( preferably using an organic apple as example). He is taken into the mouth also called the oral cavity where mechanical and chemical digestion begins to occur. Mechanical digestion, also called mastication, is performed mainly by the teeth. Chemical digestion happens when saliva, produced by salivary glands, is secreted in the oral cavity and begins to break down Mr. Apple. Water makes up 99 % of your saliva! There are three pairs of salivary glands. They are parotid, submandibular (below jaw line or mandible) and sublingual, below the chin. The tongue manipulates and mixes salivary fluid with Mr. Apple until the tongue performs the function of swallowing. In order to swallow, the soft palate on the roof of the back of the mouth or oral cavity, and a structure called the uvula elevate to close off the opening of the nasapharynx, this is so you don't breath in Mr. Apple into the other tube that goes to your lungs but instead take him into your stomach! Mr. Apple begins to flow with salivary fluid through the esophogous to the stomach. Once Mr. Apple is done in the stomach, he is sent to the small intestine from this little knotch type structure called the pyloris sphincter. Now Mr. Apple is in the first part of the small intestine called the duodenum. In the duodenum Mr. Apple is further ingested when bile is secreted from the gallbladder. Where does the bile come from you might be wondering? Bile is made by your liver, sent to a duct called the common hepatic duct, then sent to the cystic duct, then to the gallbladder. The gallbladder gives the bile to the common bile duct and then finally it sends the bile to the duodenum. Mr. Apple is broken down even more when the pancreas sends juices called pancreatic juices to the duodenum. Mr. Apple then moves to the middle of the small intestine called the jejunum. This is where most of the nutrients from Mr. Apple are taken into the body. After the jejunum in the small intestine, Mr. Apple moves to the last part of the small intestine called the Ileum. At the end of the small intestine, whats left of Mr. Apple goes through the ileocecal valve, which is a valve that lets materials into the next organ Mr. Apple is going to, the large intestine. In the large intestine, watery material from Mr. Apple forms into feces. The large intestine has a few different parts Mr. Apple must travel through before he can finally leave the body. First part of the large intestine is the cecum, and then the colon. The different parts of the colon are the ascending, trasverse and descending colon. Mr. Apple is pushed through the colon by a process called peristalsis and segmentation. Mr. Apple then goes through the rectum, the anal canal and finally whats left of Mr. Apple leaves the body out of the anus. (And at the end of the presentation, my teacher tells me that an apple is one of the few food carbohydrates that are completely digested in the mouth! lol but you get the idea)

3 comments:

  1. I love the words mastication and uvula,, they both make me smile!

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  2. Personally I liked the word "jejunum" best. I actually thought that BEFORE reading Danielle's comment about "mastication and the uvula". I suppose technically one could call Mr. Apple's Wild Ride a travel story, in keeping with the theme of your blog. LOL.

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  3. I know, right?? those words are like savory or something! I wish they were foods and you could cook up a really good jejunum or uvula lol:)

    thats a great idea Michael!! if i do anymore of these I'll have to start making a travel blog for inside the body! :) for the final we have to do an abdominal exam, that would be interesting to travel through! :)

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