The digestion of proteins begins in the stomach and is completed in the small intestine. The enzymes that act on proteins are known as proteases.
Digestion in the stomach:
The digestive juice secreted in the gastric glands present on the stomach walls is called gastric juice. The main components of gastric juice are HCl, pepsinogen, and rennin. The food that enters the stomach becomes acidic on mixing with this gastric juice. The acidic medium converts inactive pepsinogen into active pepsin. The active pepsin then converts proteins into proteases and peptides.
`"Proteins" overset("Pepsin")rarr"Proteases + Peptides"`
The enzyme rennin plays an important role in the coagulation of milk.
Digestion in the small intestine:
The food from the stomach is acted upon by three enzymes present in the small intestine – pancreatic juice, intestinal juice (known as succus entericus), and bile juice. Action of pancreatic juice Pancreatic juice contains a variety of inactive enzymes such as trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, and carboxypeptidases. The enzymes are present in an inactivated state. The enzyme enterokinase secreted by the intestinal mucosa activates trypsinogen into trypsin.
`"Trypsinogen "overset("Enterokinase")rarr" Trypsin + Inactive peptide"`
The activated trypsin then activates the other enzymes of pancreatic juice. Chymotrypsinogen is a proteolytic enzyme that breaks down proteins into peptides.
`"Chymotrypsinogen "overset("Trypsin") rarr" Chymotrypsin"`
`"Proteins "overset("Chymotrypsin")rarr"Peptides"`
Carboxypeptidases act on the carboxyl end of the peptide chain and help in releasing the last amino acids.
`"Peptides "overset("Carboxypeptidase")rarr" Smaller peptide chain + Amino acids"`
Action of bile juice
Bile juice has bile salts such as bilirubin and biliverdin which break down large, fat globules into smaller globules so that pancreatic enzymes can easily act on them. This process is known as emulsification of fats. Bile juice also makes the medium alkaline and activates lipase. Lipase then breaks down fats into diglycerides and monoglycerides.
Action of intestinal juice
Intestinal juice contains a variety of enzymes. Pancreatic amylase digests polysaccharides into disaccharides. Disaccharidases such as maltase, lactase, sucrase, etc., further digest the disaccharides. The proteases hydrolyse peptides into dipeptides and finally into amino acids.
`"Dipeptides "overset("Dipeptidases")rarr" Amino acids"`
Pancreatic lipase breaks down fats into diglycerides and monoglycerides. The nucleases break down nucleic acids into nucleotides and nucleosides.
