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Pancreatic Juice – An Overview

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Pancreatic Juice is used for digestion purposes in the human body. As the name suggests, it is secreted from the Pancreas. The pancreas is an organ that is situated in the abdomen of humans, behind the stomach. The pancreas is an endocrine system organ. The pancreas not only secretes the enzymes to digest. It also secretes the hormones for digestion purposes. Like Insulin, Glucagon. But they are not part of pancreatic juice. Pancreatic juice is completely made with enzymes. Like pancreatic juice, many other juices are there which play an important role in digestion. Bile juice is one of them. But Bile juice is only used to digest lipid molecules. From this perspective pancreatic juice is different. Pancreatic juice helps to digest protein, carbohydrates, fat & lipid. That is why it is so important in human body.

Structure/Composition of Pancreatic Juice

 

Pancreatic juice is completely made with enzymes that secrete from Pancreas. But still, there are some more things present there, which play an important role.

Bicarbonate Ions & Water

In the pancreatic juice, there are a large number of bicarbonate ions present. As well as it consists of water. In pancreatic juice, there is nearly 99 % of water present. The bicarbonates produces from the small & large ductulus of the acini and are mixed up with the juice.

Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes are made with two types of enzymes. One is an Active enzyme & Another is inactive enzymes

Inactive Enzymes

There are mainly three inactive enzymes present. They are

  1. Trypsinogen
  2. Chymotripsinogen
  3. Procarboxypolypeptidase

Now, these enzymes stay in inactive mode, as their active mode of them can cause damage to the pancreas itself. But these enzymes are very important in our digestive system. These will use in large intestines. So, these enzymes will get activated in large intestines by some factors. Like Trypsinogen will get activated by the Enterokinase. After activation it will act as Trypsin. Now this Trypsin will activate the Chymotripsinogen & Procarboxypolypeptidase. But these activations will not take place in the pancreas.

Active Enzymes

There are main three enzymes that play an essential role in digestion. They are

  1. Amylase: It helps to digest the carbohydrates like sugar which we consume as food. 
  2. Protease: It helps to break down the protein of the food. Also, it helps to destroy some bacteria that may live in the intestine. 
  3. Lipase: It works with the bile & helps to digest the fat & lipid of the food.

Importance of Pancreatic Juice

Pancreatic juice not only helps to digest but also plays a significant role in human life. It is the only digestive juice that is able to break down the Protein, Carbohydrate, Lipid & Fat which we consume as our food. Unlike Bile juice, it does not only break down the lipid & fat in the body. That is why, for some individuals, Gallbladder Stone operation is more common. Research says that in the future, the number of Gallbladder Stone operations will get increase. But this type of operation will not harmful as Pancreas is present. Pancreatic juice is able to break down the lipid & fat of the food. 

But if pancreas will not present, then there will occur many problems. Without Amylase, individuals may get diarrhea from undigested carbohydrates. In absence of Protease, the excess protein will not break down into smaller parts. That is why some allergic diseases may get arise. Also, Protease helps to destroy the bacteria which present in the intestine. As bacteria has protein layer, so it has the ability to destroy them. If the lipase secretion is low in quantity, then there will problem when absorbing the fat.

Uses/Functions Of Pancreatic Juice

Digestion of Food

Pancreatic juice is help to digest the food. As this juice has many enzymes that will help to break down the Protein, Carbohydrate, Lipid & fat. This juice helps to break the Protein into Peptides using Protease. It helps to break down the Lipid or Fat into Fatty Acids. It break downs the carbohydrates into Disaccharides.

Alkalization Of the Food

The food which we intake does not directly come to the pancreas. It first moves to the stomach, then it arrives at the pancreas. But there is some problem. The stomach breaks down the food by the acid. Mainly HCl acid is being used there. But all the enzymes which used to digest the food in the pancreas can only work in alkaline environment. So, Bicarbonate ions play their role here. They bond with the acidic food & make them alkaline in nature. This alkaline nature will help the food to digest in the intestine also.

Balance of Salt

Due to some disorder if there is any shortage of salt in human body then pancreatic juice makes the situation a balanced one. Due to reaction with the Bicarbonate ions & the acidic food some amount of salt is generated. Is salt can be used in critical situations.

Protections

Sometimes bacteria can live in our intestine. They will harm to our health. As pancreatic juice has protein enzymes, they are easily digest the bacteria & destroy them. As pancreatic juice protects us from various bacteria.

Disorder Of Pancreatic Juice

Sometimes due to some damage to the pancreas, the pancreatic juice may secrete in insufficient amount. This may lead to the several health problems. If this can’t treat well then life threats can also be there. Some symptoms of insufficient pancreatic juice

  1. Loss of appetite
  2. Weight loss is a huge amount
  3. Diarrhea
  4. Abnormal pain in the abdomen

Conceptual Questions

Question 1: What is P-Amylase? 

Answer:

P-Amylase is known as the amylase which secretes from the Pancreas. Sometimes, Amylase is known as their secretion name. Like, Amylase which is secreted from Salivary Glands is known as S-Amylase.

Question 2: From where does Insulin secrete?

Answer:

Insulin secretes from the beta cells of the Pancreas. These are the special cells. Insulin helps to regulate the sugar level in the blood. They are not part of the pancreatic juice. But they are one of the most important factors to maintain carbohydrates in the blood.

Question 3: What are the other places where Lipase secretes?

Answer:

Lipase secretes from the Pancreas mainly. But they can also be found in low quantity in the mouth & stomach of the human body.

Question 4: Provide the reaction of the Bicarbonate ions with the acidic food which comes down from the stomach.

Answer:

Mainly the food which comes from the stomach is rich in HCl. So the reaction will be

HCl + NaHCO3 ——–> NaCl + H2CO3

Question 5: When did Trypsin get activated?

Answer:

Trypsin gets activated when pancreatic juice reaches the intestinal tract. As if before it is activated it will digest the pancreas itself.


Last Updated : 12 Jan, 2024
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