Question

Gastric juice of infants contain
a. Pepsinogen, lipase, and rennin
b. Amylase, rennin, and pepsinogen
c. Maltase, pepsinogen, and rennin
d. Nuclease, pepsinogen, and lipase

Answer 1

Hint: Young babies (less than half a year) have an immature Gastrointestinal system. Unlike children or adults, their GIT is unable to produce digestive enzymes. And that's why, unlike children or adults, infants are unable to digest many macromolecules. Mother's milk contains many digestive enzymes that help in digestion in the infant's alimentary canal.

Complete Answer:
To answer this question, first, we must understand the stomach condition and physiological requirements of a newborn baby, and then we must understand the role of each component.
- The infant stomachs can just hold between $\dfrac{1}{4}$ and $\dfrac{1}{2}$ cup of liquid (versus around 14 cups in grown-ups!) The stomach related action of the stomach is the equivalent in the two children and grown-ups.
- The gastric organs of the stomach incorporate parietal cells, which produce HCl and natural factors. The central cells in these organs emit pepsinogen, which is changed into pepsin. This acts on proteins in the gastric juice.
- Incredibly, one hour after birth and the parietal cells begin to work just after birth. The gastric pH is under 4 for the initial 7 to 10 days of life.

1. Pepsinogen: An inactive enzyme that is secreted by the gastric cells and gets converted into its active form i.e. pepsin by the action of acid present in the stomach. This pepsin is utilized by the digestive system to break down the dietary proteins.
2. Lipase: Lipase is an enzyme that is present in the digestive secretions and converts triglycerides into free fatty acids and alcohols. In this way, they are answerable for fat digestion.
3. Rennin: Rennin is a proteolytic compound blended by the stomach. Its role is to sour or coagulate milk.
4. Amylase: It promotes the hydrolysis of complex starch into simple sugars.
5. Maltase: It is responsible for the digestion of maltose.
6. Nuclease: It is responsible for the digestion of nucleic acids.

Hence the correct option is (a) pepsinogen, lipase, and rennin.

Note: The role of gastric juice is to sour or coagulate milk. In this way, it is available in newborn children since they feed on milk however is missing in grown-ups.