What is peristalsis and its role in digestion?

Involuntary muscle contractions moving food along the digestive tract

What is the alimentary canal?

A continuous tube guiding food from mouth to intestines

Tongue pushing food against the hard palate

Mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and adventitia

The process of swallowing involves intricate phases such as buccal, pharyngeal, and esophageal, with peristalsis playing a vital role in moving the bolus through the GI tract.
Peristalsis in the esophagus is likened to squeezing toothpaste from a tube, ensuring a unidirectional flow of food and involving various layers like mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and adventitia within the esophagus.

What is the medical term for swallowing?
Deglutition
What is peristalsis and its role in digestion?
Involuntary muscle contractions moving food along the digestive tract
What is the alimentary canal?
A continuous tube guiding food from mouth to intestines
What is the buccal phase of swallowing?
Tongue pushing food against the hard palate
What are the layers of the esophagus?
Mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and adventitia

00:00

Injected bolus refers to a dose in the GI tract, while deglutition is the medical term for swallowing, involving buccal, pharyngeal, and esophageal phases.
In the buccal phase, the tongue pushes against the hard palate, aiding in the swallowing process by creating a seal in the oral cavity.
Peristalsis is crucial in moving the bolus from the pharynx to the esophagus, with the esophagus having multiple layers including mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and adventitia.
Peristalsis in the esophagus is an involuntary process that moves the bolus along, similar to squeezing toothpaste from a tube, ensuring a one-way street for food passage.
The alimentary canal, a continuous tube from the oral cavity to the intestines, involves autonomic nervous system control for contractions, guiding food through the small and large intestines.