Question

Discuss the role of hepato-pancreatic complex in digestion of carbo-hydrate, protein and fat components of food.

Answer 1

This bile duct (from gall bladder and liver) and the pancreatic duct (from pancreas) releases pancreatic juice and bile into the duodenum through the common hepato-pancreatic duct which is guarded by a sphincter called sphincter of Oddi.

The pancreatic juice contains inactive enzymes, i.e., trypsinogen. chymotrypsinogen, procarboxypeptidase, amylase, lipases and nucleases.

The action of hepato-pancreatic secretion on digestion on carbohydrate, proteins and fats are summarised below (i) Carbohydrates in the chyme are hydrolysed by pancreatic amylase into disaccharides.

$Polysaccharides\left(starch\right)\stackrel{Pancreatiamylase}{\to }Disaccharides$

(ii) Fats are broken down by lipases with the help of bile into di and monoglycerides.

$Triglycerides\stackrel{Bille}{\to }Emulsifiedtriglycerdis\stackrel{Lipase}{\to }Diglycerides\to Monoglycerides$

(iii) Proteins in the thyme reaching the intestine are acted upon by the proteolytic enzymes of pancreatic juice.

$\underset{Proteoses}{\underset{Peptones}{Proteins}}\underset{Carboxypeptidase}{\overset{Trypsin/Chymotrypsin}{\to }}Dipeptides$