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| The uptake of small nutrient molecules by an organism’s own body; the third main stage of food processing, following digestion. |
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| A mixture of recently swallowed food and gastric juice. |
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| A digestive tract consisting of a tube running between a mouth and an anus. |
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| A small, fingerlike extension of the vertebrate cecum; contains a mass of white blood cells that contribute to immunity. |
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| A mixture of substances that is produced in the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and acts as a detergent to aid in the digestion and absorption of fats. |
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| A lubricated ball of chewed food. |
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| An animal that eats relatively large pieces of food. |
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| An animal, such as a shark, hawk, or spider, that eats other animals. |
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| (plural, ceca) A blind outpocket of a hollow organ such as an intestine. |
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| One of the small intracellular globules composed of fats that are mixed with cholesterol and coated with special proteins. |
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| A digestive tube that runs between a mouth and an anus; also called an alimentary canal. An incomplete digestive tract has only one opening. |
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| The process of breaking down food into molecules small enough for the body to absorb. |
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| The first section of the small intestine, where acid chyme from the stomach mixes with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and gland cells of the intestinal wall. |
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| The passing of undigested material out of the digestive compartment. |
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| The process in digestion that splits macromolecules from food by the enzymatic addition of water. |
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| A cartilaginous flap that blocks the top of the windpipe, the glottis, during swallowing, which prevents the entry of food or fluid into the respiratory system. |
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| A channel that conducts food, by peristalsis, from the pharynx to the stomach. |
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| An amino acid that an animal cannot synthesize itself and must obtain from food. Eight amino acids are essential in the human adult. |
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| Certain unsaturated fatty acids that animals cannot make. |
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| A substance that an organism must absorb in preassembled form because it cannot be synthesized from any other material. In humans, there are essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids. |
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| The breakdown of food outside cells. |
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| The wastes of the digestive tract. |
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| An animal that lives by sucking nutrient-rich fluids from another living organism. |
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| An organ that stores bile and releases it as needed into the small intestine. |
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| An extensive pouch that serves as the site of extracellular digestion and a passageway to disperse materials throughout most of an animal’s body. |
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| A large circulatory channel that conveys nutrient-laden blood from the small intestine to the liver, which regulates the blood’s nutrient content. |
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| A heterotrophic animal that eats plants. |
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| A heterotrophic mode of nutrition in which other organisms or detritus are eaten whole or in pieces. |
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| The joining of food vacuoles and lysosomes to allow chemical digestion to occur within the cytoplasm of a cell. |
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| A tiny lymph vessel extending into the core of an intestinal villus and serving as the destination for absorbed chylomicrons. |
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| The tubular portion of the vertebrate alimentary tract between the small intestine and the anus; functions mainly in water absorption and the formation of feces. |
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| The largest organ in the vertebrate body. The liver performs diverse functions, such as producing bile, preparing nitrogenous wastes for disposal, and detoxifying poisonous chemicals in the blood. |
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| Referring an animal whose diet is missing one or more essential nutrients. |
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| (plural, microvilli) One of many fine, fingerlike projections of the epithelial cells in the lumen of the small intestine that increase its surface area. |
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| In nutrition, a chemical element other than hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen that an organism requires for proper body functioning. |
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| A heterotrophic animal that consumes both meat and plant material. |
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| A diet that is chronically excessive in calories. |
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| A gland with dual functions: The nonendocrine portion secretes digestive enzymes and an alkaline solution into the small intestine via a duct; the endocrine portion secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon into the blood. |
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| An enzyme present in gastric juice that begins the hydrolysis of proteins. |
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| The inactive form of pepsin that is first secreted by specialized (chief) cells located in gastric pits of the stomach. |
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| (1) Rhythmic waves of contraction of smooth muscle that push food along the digestive tract. (2) A type of movement on land produced by rhythmic waves of muscle contractions passing from front to back, as in many annelids. |
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| An area in the vertebrate throat where air and food passages cross; in flatworms, the muscular tube that protrudes from the ventral side of the worm and ends in the mouth. |
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| In the vertebrate digestive tract, a muscular ring that regulates the passage of food out of the stomach and into the small intestine. |
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| The terminal portion of the large intestine where the feces are stored until they are eliminated. |
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| An animal, such as a cow or a sheep, with an elaborate, multicompartmentalized stomach specialized for an herbivorous diet. |
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| A salivary gland enzyme that hydrolyzes starch. |
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| Exocrine glands associated with the oral cavity. The secretions of salivary glands contain substances to lubricate food, adhere together chewed pieces into a bolus, and begin the process of chemical digestion. |
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| The longest section of the alimentary canal; the principal site of the enzymatic hydrolysis of food macromolecules and the absorption of nutrients. |
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| A ringlike valve consisting of modified muscles in a muscular tube, such as a digestive tract; closes off the tube like a drawstring. |
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| An organ of the digestive system that stores food and performs preliminary steps of digestion. |
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| An organism that lives in or on its food source, eating its way through the food. |
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| An aquatic animal, such as a clam or a baleen whale, that sifts small food particles from the water. |
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| A diet that is chronically deficient in calories. |
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| (plural, villi) (1) A finger-like projection of the inner surface of the small intestine. (2) A fingerlike projection of the chorion of the mammalian placenta. Large numbers of villi increase the surface areas of these organs. |
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| An organic molecule required in the diet in very small amounts. Vitamins serve primarily as coenzymes or parts of coenzymes. |
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