Digestive enzymes are enzymes in the alimentary canal that break down food so that the organism can absorb it. The main sites of action are the oral cavity, the stomach, the duodenum and the jejunum. They are secreted by different glands: the salivary glands, the glands in the stomach, the pancreas, and the glands in the small intestines.
In the oral cavity, salivary glands secrete ptyalin. It is a type of α-amylase that digests starch into small segments of multiple sugars and into the individual soluble sugars. Secreted by small and large salivary glands. Salivary glands also secrete lysozyme, which kills bacteria but is not classified as a digestive enzyme.
The enzymes that get secreted in the stomach are called gastric enzymes. These are the following:
The pancreas is the main digestive gland in our body. It secretes the enzymes:
The jejunum and ileum secretes a juice called succus entericus, which contains the following six types of enzymes that degrade disaccharides into monosaccharides:
The small intestine receives lipase, trypsin and amylase from the pancreas. They are transported from the pancreas to the duodenum through the pancreatic duct. Protein, fats and starch are broken down into smaller molecules. However, they are not fully broken down yet. This causes the enzymes of the small intestine to act upon them. These enzymes include peptidase, which breaks down peptides into amino acids and the enzyme maltase acts upon maltose, which produces glucose. These molecules are absorbed by the villi in the small intestine and according to the molecule they are either absorbed by the lacteal or blood capillaries.
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