What does pepsinogen digest

Gastric juice is an acid juice pH 1 — 3. Its main components are: 1. Hydrochloric Acid HCl 2. Renin 3. Pepsinogen 4.

Gelatinase 5. Gastric Amylase 6. Gastric Lipase. HCl keeps the stomach pH acidic. As HCl is a strong acid, it will kill most of the bacteria present in the food. It has another main function. That is to convert pepsinogen into pepsin. Pepsinogen is activated by HCl into Pepsin.

Pepsin digests other proteins present in the food to smaller peptides fragments. Gelatinase digests type I and type V gelatin and type IV and V collagen, which are proteoglycans in the meat. These are all the digestive processes that take place in the stomach. The remaining food, now called chyme, is passed through the abdomen into the duodenum through the pyloric sphincter present at the lower end of the abdomen.

The main function of this gland is to produce an alkaline solution contain bicarbonate ion in order to : 1. To protect the duodenum from the acidic content of chyme 2. To provide an alkaline condition for the intestinal enzymes to be active, thus enabling absorption to take place 3. To lubricate intestinal walls.

Pepsin functions best in acidic environments because it is found in an acidic environment, particularly those in a pH of 1. Other important digestive proteases are the pancreatic enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin.

Pepsin denatures if the pH is more than 5. Pepsin is potently inhibited by the peptide inhibitor pepstatin. Autolysis may also be prevented by storage of pepsins at pH 11 or by using pepsins modified by e. When the pH is adjusted back to pH 6 activity returns. Category : EC 3. Read what you need to know about our industry portal bionity. My watch list my. My watch list My saved searches My saved topics My newsletter Register free of charge.

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Merck Manuals Professional Edition. Accessed June 27, Related Articles. On exposure to an acidic pH the activation peptide is cleaved, thereby unmasking the active site and generating catalytically-active pepsin.

Optimal activity of pepsins is at pH of 1. They are reversibly inactivated at about pH 5 and irreversibly inactivated at pH 7 to 8. In general, secretion of pepsinogens is coupled to secretion of acid from the parietal cell.