Digestive system
The digestive system is made up of:
- The digestive tube, which is about 9 meters long and has a variable shape, widens in some sections and narrows in others. It begins in the mouth and ends in the anus. It has these parts:
- Oral cavity. The mouth contains the tongue and teeth, and the salivary glands pour saliva into it.
- Pharynx. It is the common conduit of the digestive and respiratory systems. It communicates the mouth with the esophagus
.
- Gullet. Tube through which food travels from the pharynx to the stomach.
- Stomach. Widening of the digestive tract, between the esophagus and the intestine, in whose walls there are glands that secrete gastric juices that intervene in digestion.
- Small intestine. Tube about 6-7 meters long and folded that connects the stomach with the large intestine. It has three parts: duodenum, jejunum, and ileum.
- Large intestine. It is the last part of the digestive tract, a conduit 1-1.5 meters thick and thicker than the small intestine, made up of the cecum, the colon (ascending, transverse and rectum), and the rectum.
- Anus. Orifice located at the end of the digestive tract. It is made up of a voluntary sphincter muscle that controls the expulsion of stool.
- The attached glands are organs that discharge their secretions to the digestive tract. They are
:
- The salivary glands: they produce the saliva that they secrete in the mouth.
- The gastric glands: they produce the gastric juices of the stomach.
- The intestinal glands: secrete intestinal juices.
- The liver. It is the largest organ in the body, weighs 1500 grams.
It produces bile, which accumulates in the gallbladder, necessary for the digestion of fats.
- The pancreas.
Gland that secretes hormones into the blood to control the level of glucose in the blood and pancreatic juice that discharges into the duodenum.