Digestion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Digestion - Essay Example The mucus is important for protecting the mucosa from the acidic contents of the stomach. The epithelium is also lined with endocrine cells that stimulate the production of acid and digestive enzymes (Johnson, 2005, 23). The lamina propria lining the stomach is composed of loose connective tissue. Lymph vessels, nerves and large blood vessels are located in the mucosa that is composed of loose connective tissues. In the stomach, the muscularies externa is composed of three layers of muscles that are the oblique inner, circular middle and longitudinal outer layers that run in opposite directions to allow great motility in the stomach for mixing and churning ingested food. The small intestine mucosa has various structural features that are essential for increasing the luminal surface area supporting the main function of the small intestine of absorption of the degraded food components. Along the mucosa and submucosa are plicae circulares that are crescent shaped folds extend on around 1/3 of the small intestine lumen The lumen is lined with simple columnar epithelium. The ileum and jejunum are covered with serosa while the duodenum has serosa on the anterior surface (Feneis & Dauber, 2000, 42). The entire mucosa of the intestinal lining forms villi that are important for increasing the surface area that food absorption takes place in. The surface of the villi is composed of simple epithelium for easy absorption. The lamina propria is similar to that of the stomach usually cell rich. The submucosa layer contains glands on the duodenum â€Å"Brunner’s glands† that produces mucus protecting the duodenal mucosa from the acidic content from the stomach (Di Mauro et al. 2013, 15). The muscularies externa has two layers the inner thicker circular layer for mixing and the outer thinner longitudinal layer for the continuous peristalsis activity of the small intestines. It is the