Author/Editor     Stožer, Andraž; Dolenšek, Jurij; Rupnik, Marjan
Title     Fiziologija prebavne cevi, 2. del
Translated title     Gastrointestinal physiology, part 2
Type     članek
Source     Med Razgl
Vol. and No.     Letnik 49, št. 4
Publication year     2010
Volume     str. 391-424
Language     slo
Abstract     Nutrient, vitamin and mineral assimilation, along with water and electrolyte absorption, plays an important role in sustaining life. Unfortunately, all too of ten, a disease points out the importance of these process es to the patient and his doctor. Mechanical and enzymatic degradation of food to its basic constituents (digestion) begins in the oral cavity and is continued along the gastrointestinal tract, all the way down to the small intestine and within it. Here, the majority ofnutrients, electrolytes, minerais, vitamins, and water are absorbed. Colon then typically fine-tunes the amount of water and electrolytes to be absorbed/excreted. The abovementioned digestive degradation to smaller molecular particles is common to all major nutrients and necessary to ensure their solubility in the watery milieu of lumen, intracellular space and plasma and, most importantly, to make them cross the intestinal epithelial barrier. Due to differences in chemical composition across different groups of nutrients, the mechanisms of their intraluminal breakdown and transepithelial transport differ.
Descriptors     GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM
DIGESTION
INTESTINAL SECRETIONS
INTESTINAL ABSORPTION
CARBOHYDRATES
PROTEINS
LIPIDS
VITAMINS
MINERALS