Salutations. Glad you're here. In this lecture, we will continue our exploration of medical terminology as it relates to the digestive system. Let's get started. The digestive system, also known as the gastrointestinal system, is responsible for taking in and breaking down food for energy. Through digestion and absorption, this system make sure we harvest every possible benefit from our diet. Fun fact, the average adult mix around two pints of saliva a day. That's 216 ounce water bottles full. Wow. Let's begin by looking at the basic purposes and anatomy of the digestive system. But first, let's look at this adorable little bunny. The first purpose of the digestive system is digestion. Digestion is the process of breaking down food into its component parts. This is accomplished through mechanical digestion like chewing and the churning of the stomach, as well as chemical digestion through the use of enzymes. This giraffe is demonstrating some mad chewing skills on that tree. The next task of the digestive system is to absorb the nutrients from the food that has been digested into its teeny tiny component parts. This occurs predominantly in the small intestine. Absorption also includes harvesting water content and anything else that might be beneficial to the body. Just like a sponge soaks up spills, the digestive system soaks up water and nutrients. The gastrointestinal or GI tract is the main part of the digestive system. The GI tract includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestines. Together, they form essentially one long tube or hose from mouth to anus. That's food for thought. Along with the GI tract, there are also accessory organs in the digestive system like the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. These organs contribute to the digestive process, usually by secreting special enzymes needed to break down food. The mouth is the first part of the digestive system. Here, chewing or mastication breaks down food into smaller pieces to increase the surface area exposed to digestive enzymes. From there, it goes down the esophagus into the stomach. Using mechanical and chemical digestion, the stomach continues to break down food into its component parts. After food has finished the digestion process in the stomach, it is called chyme, not chime as in the thing pictured here, but chyme. Chyme has a paste light consistency in has gradually squirted into the small intestine. Chyme. From the stomach, the food continues as chyme into the small intestine. Here, the digestive process is finished and absorption of nutrients occurs. By the time the food reaches the large intestine, it is mostly water and indigestible food products like fiber and corn. Corn, everyone has seen it go in and see it come up. Is corn digestible? Yes. No. I don't know. The answer is yes, but only if you break the kernel. That high-fiber covering on the corn kernel prevents it from being digested. But if you chew your corn, your body can harvest the nutrition inside the kernel and you will never see it again. Now, for a 10 second brain break. Welcome back. In the previous section, we focused on the basic purpose and anatomy of the digestive system. We will now begin to learn some new word roots related to the same. Up first, some general terms, abdomino, celio, and lapiro all mean abdomen. You can see them in words like abdominal, celiac disease, and laparoscopic. I don't know about you but my abdomen looks exactly like the one in the photo. Hepato and hepatico both mean liver. You can see them in words like hepatitis, which is a viral inflammation of the liver. Meaning pancreas, pancreato is the root in the word pancreatitis, which is obviously an itis of the pancreas. I always think that the anatomical drawings of the pancreas resemble those little baby corns I get in my veggie lo mein, that's why I eat around them. The roots oro and stomato both mean mouth or your pie hole. Oro is far more commonly used and can be seen in the word oral, meaning pertaining to the mouth. In order to optimally chew solid food, you need teeth. Dento and odonto both mean tooth. You can see them in words like dental and orthodontist. The tongue plays a role in speech, but also in chewing and swallowing your food for digestion, and apparently and taking selfies on a scooter. The roots glosso and linguo mean tongue. They can be found in the words hypoglossal and sublingual. Fun fact, did you know giraffes have purple tongues to avoid getting a sunburn. The darker pigment helps protect their tongues from roasting in the sun as they spend all day using it to grab leaves off of the trees. Cool. Esophago means esophagus and can be seen in the word esophageal cancer. Why is there a picture of a wet slide on this slide? Because I think of the esophagus as a glorified slide, delivering food from mouth to stomach. The root gastro means stomach. You can see it in the words gastritis, which is an inflammation of the stomach. Entero means intestine. It can be seen in the word gastroenteritis, which is an inflammation of the stomach and intestines, or another way to say your digestive system is angry. Why the picture of sausages? The natural casing used to make them is actually animal intestine. You're welcome. The duodenum, jejunum, and ileum are subdivisions of the small intestine in order from start to finish. The word roots duodedeno, jejuno, and ileo are used for them respectively. See the small sausages being cased in small intestines? The roots colo and colono both mean colon. Colon is another term for your large intestine. They can be seen in words like colorectal cancer screen and colonoscopy, which are both super fun tests you have to look forward to in your older age. The word root for rectum is recto. The rectum is the end of the GI tract. Want to hear a joke? Why can't you drive nice cars? Because you're recto. The anus is the external opening at the end of the digestive system, and its word root is ano. This is Uranus, the planet. Finally, procto is the medical term that refers to both the rectum and the anus. You can see it in the word proctologist, which is a specialist in the rectum and anus pictured here, and looking way too happy. As with all good things, this lecture too must come to an end. Thanks for exploring introductory terms and reach related to the digestive system with me. See you next time.
