989,997,557 visitors served.
989,997,557 visitors served. |
|
 Dictionary/ thesaurus |  Medical dictionary |  Legal dictionary |  Financial dictionary |  Acronyms |  Idioms |  Encyclopedia |  Wikipedia encyclopedia | ? |
pancreatic juice |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia | 0.01 sec. |
|
pancreatic juice (păn'krēăt`ĭk, păng'–), secretions of the exocrine portion of the pancreas pancreas (păn`krēəs), glandular organ that secretes digestive enzymes and hormones. ..... Click the link for more information. into the small intestine. The juice contains a number of important digestive enzymes enzyme, biological catalyst . The term enzyme comes from zymosis, the Greek word for fermentation , a process accomplished by yeast cells and long known to the brewing industry, which occupied the attention of many 19th-century chemists. ..... Click the link for more information. , including trypsin trypsin, enzyme that acts to degrade protein ; it is often referred to as a proteolytic enzyme, or proteinase. Trypsin is one of the three principal digestive proteinases, the other two being pepsin and chymotrypsin . ..... Click the link for more information. , chymotrypsin chymotrypsin (kī'mōtrĭp`sĭn), proteolytic, or protein-digesting, enzyme active in the mammalian intestinal tract. ..... Click the link for more information. , carboxypeptidase, lipase lipase (lī`pās), any enzyme capable of degrading lipid molecules. ..... Click the link for more information. , and amylase amylase (ăm`əlās'), enzyme having physiological, commercial, and historical significance, also called diastase. ..... Click the link for more information. . Pancreatic juice is alkaline in nature because of a high concentration of bicarbonate ions; this helps to neutralize the acidic gastric juice gastric juice, thin, strongly acidic (pH varying from 1 to 3), almost colorless liquid secreted by the glands in the lining of the stomach. Its essential constituents are the digestive enzymes pepsin and rennin (see rennet ), hydrochloric acid, and mucus. ..... Click the link for more information. from the stomach. Secretion of pancreatic juice is stimulated by hormones of the duodenum, such as secretin and cholecystokinin, and by nervous impulses through the vagus nerve. |
|
? Mentioned in | ? References in periodicals archive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| When the stomach contents move to the duodenum, the first segment of the small intestine, bile and pancreatic juice speed up digestion. Think of your body as a recycling plant that uses the same fluids again and again during each stop along the way via saliva and gastric, bile, intestinal, and pancreatic juices. Secretin also stimulates the release of pancreatic juice by the pancreas and bile by the liver, both of which contain bicarbonate (a salt) and change the pH of the duodenum (the first or proximal portion of small intestine) from acid to alkaline, thereby facilitating the action of intestinal digestive enzymes. |
 |
| Free Tools: |
For surfers:
Browser extension |
Word of the Day |
Help
For webmasters: Free content NEW! | Linking | Lookup box | Double-click lookup | Partner with us |
|
|---|
Disclaimer |
Privacy policy |
Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
pancreatic juice
