Question
Describe the process of digestion in human beings.

Answer

Digestion of proteins in humans:
There is no digestion of protein in the oral cavity because protein digestive enzymes are absent in the saliva.
(a) Digestion of protein in the stomach: Gastric juice contains $HCl$ and two proenzymes, pepsinogen and prorenin. $HCl$ maintains a pH of 2-3.7 and kills bacteria and other pathogens. Gastric juice mixes with food until it becomes a semi-solid mass called Chyme. Proenzymes become activated as below:
Pepsinogen $\xrightarrow[2-3.7 pH ]{ HCl }$ Pepsin
Prorennin $\xrightarrow{ HCl }$ Rennin
These enzymes act as follows:
Casein $\xrightarrow[\text { (Milk protein) }]{\text { Rennin }}$ Paracasein
Paracasein $+ Ca \rightarrow$ Calcium Paracasinate (Curd)
Calcium paracaseinate $\xrightarrow{\text { Pepsin }}$ Peptones
Protein $\xrightarrow{\text { Pepsin }}$ Peotone
(b) Digestion of protein the small intestine Action of pancreatic juice. It contains proenzymes trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, and procarboxy peptidase.
Trypsinogen $\xrightarrow[\text { of interstinal juice }]{\text { Enterokinase }}$ Trypsin
Chymotrypsinogen $\xrightarrow{\text { Trypsin }}$ Chymotrypsin
Procarboxypeptidase $\xrightarrow{\text { Trypsin }}$ Carbody - peptidase
Peptones $\xrightarrow{\text { Trypsin }}$ Peptides
Peptones $\xrightarrow{\text { Chymotrypsin }}$ Peptides
Peptides $\xrightarrow{\text { Carboxypeptidase }}$ Smaller peptides + Amino acid
The action of intestinal juice. Intestinal juice contains endokinase, aminopeptidase, and dipeptidase. Actions of these enzymes are summarized below:
Peptides $\xrightarrow{\text { Aminopeptidase }}$ Smaller peptides + Amino acid
Peptides $\xrightarrow{\text { Dipeptidase }}$ Amino acid

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