Introduction
When you go to lunch and eat a sandwich, it goes through multiple organs down to your stomach. That’s where the food is digested. But have you ever wondered why your stomach doesn’t digest itself? How do the stomach cells protect themselves from all the acids and enzymes involved in the digestion process? In this web quest I will try to find out.
Task
I want to learn about the mechanism that protects the stomach cells from being digested. I also want to find out if this mechanism can be broken and how, and what will happen if it does.
Process
According to the article in Discovery Health, the stomach of an adult is about the size of a large melon and can hold about three quarts of fluid. It's made up of different layers: serosa (outer layer that covers all other layers), two muscle layers in the middle, and an inner layer called mucosa. The middle layers (the two muscle layers) help push the food around and into the small intestine. The inner layer is the most important part. It has cells called the parietal cells, the g-cells, and the epithelial cells. The parietal cells make hydrochloric acid to break down the foods. The g-cells make gastrin, a hormone that helps the parietal cells make hydrochloric acid. Lastely, the epithelial cells make a bicarbonate-rich solution to coat the mucosa. It neutralizes the acid in the stomach and therefore essential for protecting the stomach cells from being digested.
According to the Healthline article, sometimes that protection mechanism breaks. The two most common reasons are:Infection with bacterium, Helicobcter pylori and excessive use of drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen. When this happens, a person can get stomach ulcers. Ulcers can be easily cured, but without proper treatment can become a very serious problem and cause internal bleeding.
Conclusion
In this web quest I read different articles that explain how our body protects our stomach cells from being digested. The cells of the inner layer or our stomach (mucosa), produce an important coating that neutralizes the acid and protects other stomach cells from being digested.
If the mechanism that produces this coating breaks, due to infection or certain drugs, stomach ulcers can form. If left untreated, they can become a serious problem.