What does the stomach look like?
The stomach is the organ of the digestive systemman, thanks to which we get the energy necessary for life. Each of us knows what the stomach looks like from the school program, but most people do not need this information, so it is forgotten with time. This article refreshes this knowledge.
The structure of the human stomach
The stomach is an expansion of the digestive systema tube that is located between the esophagus and the duodenum, and is a hollow muscular organ. The stomach is in the left hypochondrium. The value of the stomach is individual, in addition, depends on the degree of stretching. With a moderate fullness of the stomach, its length is 24-26 cm. The capacity of the stomach is strongly dependent on the human food preferences and can vary from one to several liters (when filled).
The stomach is conventionally divided into components: a cardiac compartment that connects the stomach to the esophagus, the body of the stomach and its bottom (or arch, the upper part of the stomach), and the pyloric department. The latter includes: an antral section and a pyloric canal (connects the stomach to the 12-типерстной gut).
Also in the stomach distinguish the walls: front and back, and small and large curvature. The walls of the stomach themselves consist of three membranes:
- Serous membrane (external membrane of the stomach).
- Muscle shell. Thanks to the muscles of the stomach, food is mixed into the chyme, and it moves along the stomach.
- Mucous membrane. It contains stomach glands (cardiac, gastric, pyloric).
It is worth noting that inside the stomach is a set of folds with a different direction. When filling the stomach with food, it is leveled by changing the folds.
The peculiarities of the structure of the stomach fully correspond to the functions of digestion performed by him, which we shall consider later.
Functions of the stomach
- Reservoir for food to eat. This function allows us to eat at a time food, more than several times what our digestive system can digest. This is what provides us with energy for several hours.
- The development of digestive enzymes that make up the gastric juice, thanks to which the following function is carried out.
- Mechanical processing and chemical digestionfood. In the stomach, food is mixed into a homogeneous mass (chyme), splitting of proteins, and partially fat. And also the stomach carries out a piecewise advancement of gruel into the intestine, for subsequent processing.
- Absorption of nutrients.
The stomach, like other human organs, is prone tovarious diseases, such as gastritis, ulcer, cancer. With any disease, there is a change in the structure of the stomach. A little prickly picture is the stomach of a patient with a ulcer.
In the modern world, in the eternal race, we forget aboutour health, constantly in a state of stress, do not eat right, get more and more bad habits, and in this life no one is immune from an ulcer. Want to know what a stomach ulcer looks like? With this disease, the mucous layer of the walls of the stomach is broken, on them are formed wounds (ulcers), which differ in color from the mucous surface of the stomach. The disease becomes chronic, with periodic exacerbations. In addition, the ulcer can affect other organs of the digestive system (esophagus, intestines).
Now you know the structure and functions of the stomach, watch what and how you eat. Your health depends on it.
