Digestive system of a frog

Consists of all parts if Digestive System

1. Digestive System of a Frog

2. Anatomy of a Frog’s Digestive System

3. Parts of the system of a digestive frog Mouth Pharynx Oesophagus Stomach Small intestine Large intestine Cloaca Accessory organs

4. Esophagus --Return to the stomach and follow it upward, where it gets smaller is the beginning of the esophagus.  The esophagus is the tube that leads from the frog’s mouth to the stomach.  Open the frog’s mouth and find the esophagus, poke your probe into it and see where it leads. Stomach - -Curving from underneath the liver is the stomach.  The stomach is the first major site of chemical digestion.  Frogs swallow their meals whole.   Follow the stomach to where it turns into the small intestine.  The pyloric sphincter valve regulates the exit of food from the stomach Pancreas – This glandular organ is located within the curve of the stomach. On preserved frogs it may not be easy to find, as the gland breaks down. It secretes insulin, which is needed for the proper breakdown of sugar.

5. Small Intestine --Leading from the stomach.  The first straight portion of the small intestine is called the duodenum , the curled portion is the ileum .  A membrane called the mesentery holds the ileum together.  Note the blood vessels running through the mesentery; they will carry absorbed nutrients away from the intestine.  Absorption of digested nutrients occurs in the small intestine. Large Intestine --As you follow the small intestine down, it will widen into the large intestine.  The large intestine is also known as the cloaca in the frog.  The cloaca is the last stop before wastes, sperm, or urine exit the frog's body.  (The word "cloaca" means sewer.) Locate the anus. Spleen --Return to the folds of the mesentery, this dark red spherical object serves as a holding area for blood, where harmful particles can be filtered out for the immune system.

6. Mechanism of Digestion of digestive System of a Frog The digestive system of a frog starts with the mouth. Mouth helps in consumption of food. This process is known as ingestion. Frog feeds on flies or insects. As the teeth’s present in frog is very week they are not useful to catch the agile prey. Frogs catch their food (such as insects and flies) with the help of its stick tongue and mixes it with the saliva. The teeth’s present in the upper jaw are called the maxillary teeth, it helps in grinding the ingested food before it is swallowed . The saliva produced and secreted by the salivary glands helps in conversion of starch to sugar and adds liquid to the ingested food . The food mixed with saliva then moves from mouth into the pharynx, and then into the oesophagus . It pushes the food further into the sac like structure stomach. This movement is food into the stomach is known as deglutition or swallowing.

7. Food particles in the stomach mix thoroughly with enzymes and other fluids due to contraction of smooth muscles present in the stomach. Peristaltic movement propels the food particles into the digestive tract and the pyloric sphincter valve is involved in preventing the movement of food backward from the stomach . The food which is partially digested in stomach then proceeds in to the small intestine, where most part of the digestion occurs. It is divisible into duodenum and ileum. Pancreatic juice is secreted from the pancreas and bile through the gallbladder from the liver to the small intestine, which helps in completion of digestion . Absorption of the digested nutrients in digestive system of a frog occurs in small intestine. Absorption unabsorbed nutrients and reabsorption of water takes place in the large intestine. Liquid wastes are in frog is passed to the urinary bladder, while solids are routed to the cloaca. Both liquid and solid wastes in frog are expelled out through cloaca which is a slit that opens out finally in digestive system of a frog.