Question

Explain the digestion of proteins in small intestine?

Answer 1

Digestion of proteins begins in the stomach with the help of the enzyme pepsin which breaks down the peptide bonds. The partly digested food or chyme then moves into the small intestine where there are pancreatic enzymes apart from intestinal juices. Different chemical reactions take place due to the pancreatic juices together with intestinal secretions. These include enzymes like trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase breakdown the protein to smaller peptides and further breakdown into amino acids is aided by carboxypeptidase, aminopeptidase and dipeptidases and these free amino acids can be absorbed into the blood stream.