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What substances are contained in gastric juice? What are their functions?

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Last updated date: 05th Jul 2024
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Answer
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Hint :Gastric juice is defined as the acidic digestive fluid secreted into the stomach lumen by various glands in the stomach lining, primarily for partial digestion of food and the eradication of many pathogenic microbes that have simultaneously entered through the oral cavity.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
Hydrochloric acid, the enzyme pepsin, and mucus are all present in gastric juice. The functions are defined as follows:
Hydrochloric acid makes the gastric juice medium acidic, allowing the enzyme pepsin to properly digest proteins while also killing any bacteria that may have entered the stomach with food.
Pepsin is an enzyme that breaks down proteins in food and converts them into smaller molecules.
Mucus: Mucus protects the stomach wall from hydrochloric acid secretions produced by the stomach.
The three phases of gastric secretion (cephalic, gastric, and intestinal) are determined by the primary mechanisms that cause the gastric mucosa to secrete gastric juice. The phases of gastric secretion overlap, and the neural and humoral pathways are interconnected and interdependent in some ways.
Some substances are absorbed depending on the pH of the gastric contents. The environment is acidic at low pH, so aspirin is absorbed almost as quickly as water from the stomach; however, as the pH of the stomach rises and the environment becomes more basic, aspirin is absorbed more slowly.

Note :
The membrane on the surface of the epithelial cells bordering the lumen of the stomach protects the stomach walls from digestive juices; this membrane is rich in lipoproteins, which are resistant to acid attack. Rennin, an enzyme found in the gastric juice of some mammals (such as calves), clumps milk proteins, removing them from solution and making them more susceptible to the action of a proteolytic enzyme.