j kitchen hw120-01_unit9project

JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 1

A Journey;

In, Through, and Out

Jennifer Kitchen

HS130-01

Unit 9 Assignment

Kaplan University

November 19, 2011


Welcome to the Biological News Network

Hello, this is Jenni Kitchen reporting for the Biological News Network. I am on assignment

at the Center for Study of Biological Functioning. Today I will be taking a tour of the

digestion, circulation, and urinary systems. To do this I will be shrunk down to a minuscule

size of 8 microns. One micron, also known as a micrometer, is one-millionth of a meter.

This is extremely tiny, small enough to be swallowed Mr. Nod Binkins, a 55 year old man.

He will consume me with a hamburger, French fries, and a root beer. I will be places in the

top of the hamburger amongst the sesame seeds.

You may remember this, the Miniaturization Machine, from a previous broadcast. It will

make me and this pill-shaped submarine into a mini-me and mini-sub. So, let me get set-up

inside the sub… … I am now inside and ready to be miniaturized. In order for this to work I

must cut communications for a few moments… … Okay, I am back and the sub and I are

now a mere 8 microns long. This makes me very small and I will easily be consumed by Mr.

Binkins. This is much too small for any person to see with the naked eye but you should be

able to see me on the Magnification Screen.

Here I am on the top of a bun ready to be consumed. I will be digested, circulated, and

expelled on this great journey. I would like to thank everyone who has tuned in to share

this amazing experience with me. Let’s go…

The Path of Digestion

Mr. Binkins is has started eating. I wonder how many bites it will take before I enter the

mouth. Since he has already taken a bite he is already digesting. Actually he started the


digestive process even before he took that first bite. This process starts as soon as a person

starts salivating at the thought of food. Now is the bite we been waiting for… … Here we go!

Mr. Binkins is now chewing… … Look at how the teeth come down. Take notice of the roof

(we are by the soft palate in the front of the mouth) and now the floor of the mouth as we

are swept around the tongue! See the sublingual and submandibular ducts spitting saliva?

We are experiencing the process of chewing which is called mastication! It causes the

salivary secretions to combine with food and starts breaking the food particles down. And

now we are being swallowed… … The Uvula, trapdoor, folded up to block food from going

into nasal cavity as we slip down over the root of the tongue into the Pharynx and past the

Larynx and down the Esophagus, the highway to the Stomach!!! That was exhilarating!!!

We have come into the stomach via the Gastroesophagal Sphincter. Did you see the muscle

moving as the food and our sub were swallowed down the Esophagus? Now we will be

moving toward the Small Intestine, which is 20 feet in length!

We are being moving through the gastric juice in the body of the stomach. See the way the

food particles are being broken down into chime? We will now making our way through

the pylorus and we exit the stomach, entering the small intestine through the pyloric

sphincter.

The small intestine is divided into 3 sections. We are in the first part, the duodenum. Fats

are being broken down by bile salts! Now in the jejunum… and now we enter the ileum…

here we must shuttle our sub up under the liver so we can get go through the process of

absorption and enter the bloodstream. Let’s do this by following these water soluble

vitamins, C and the Bs. They are on a different adventure but going the same way for now!


Here we go through the mucosal membrane. We are entering the bloodstream via the

Superior Mesenteric Vein. We enter the Hepatic Portal Vein and are on our way through

the liver!

Circulatory Path

Here we go up the Inferior Vena Cava. Into the right atrium and through the tricuspid

valve to the right ventricle, what a ride! The pulmonary semilunar valve is opening and

here go into the pulmonary trunk to the left pulmonary artery, hold on tight! We are now

entering the lung, traveling down the pulmonary arteriole. We enter the alveolar sac pick

up oxygen and begin the circulation back to heart. We travel with this oxygenated blood

back to the heart through the left pulmonary vein. We go through left atrium through the

mitral valve into the left ventricle and into the aorta. We are traveling fast down the aorta

and must make a turn… here at the left renal artery! Do you see how large the renal artery

is? We are here… the left kidney.

On the Urinary Path

Renal cortex… Renal Medulla… Medullary Pyramids! Afferent Arterioles… This is where

we enter the Nephron! Renal Corpuscle! Across the Glomerular Membrane into Bowman’s

Capsule! Awesome!

This is an exciting ride! The pressure is so high! Already we are out of the blood, filtered

through with all the water and dissolves substances. Now we enter the Proximal

Convoluted Tubule and are on a roller coaster ride!!! Down the Loop of Henle… And Up!!!

Into the Distal Convoluted Tubule… Wow! Awesome! And into the Collecting Tubule. We


travel now to the Calyx, where we will come into the Ureter. We exit the Renal Papilla. We

are in the Renal Pelvis now and here we go… traveling down the Ureter. We will be going

into the Urinary Bladder from here. The Bladder lies in the Pelvis, so you know we will be

ending our journey soon.

As we enter the Bladder notice the wrinkled walls. This is because this special epithelial

membrane is connected to deeper muscular layer which will smooth the walls as the

Bladder expands. See it as it happens! Amazing!

Now we are traveling through the Internal Urinary Sphincter. Since we are in Mr. Binkins

we are now in the Prostate. In women there is no Prostate so we would already be exiting

the through the External Urinary Sphincter and out the Urethra. Now, we make the

External exit in Mr. Binkins. The Urethra of men is also a longer than that of women and

so… I had time to say that and… we are already out!!! Voided we have been! I will be right

back with you all in a moment after the Biological News Sub and made back to normal size.

Homeostasis

What an awesome adventure that was! I would like to let you all know how important the

processes we just went through are. As you seen there was a lot more happening than just

a meal being eaten and micturition (urination). Within the past hour, since we have been

eaten, we have gone through the digestive process, traveling with the fluids and particles

that made the meal, into the blood stream through the heart, lungs, and back to lungs and

back to heart made our way through the urinary system. These processes are ways to the

balance of our bodies. We need food for the nutrients that keep all our body systems

working properly, homeostasis. We need the vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) and


the carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and glucose (macronutrients) to help the body functions

of all the systems. More so homeostasis requires a balance of the fluids in the Cells

(intracellular fluid), outside the cells (interstitial fluid), and in the blood (plasma). Foods

and drinks provide the fluids we require to keep this balance. Excess fluid and fluid wastes

are excreted through the body in the form of expelled air, sweat, urine, and in the feces. We

traveled the way of we did to go on an adventure that would take us through more systems

than just digestion. We wanted you to see how food goes through digestion into the blood

circulation via the Hepatic Way and how we go through the Heart to enter the Lungs and

return to the Heart with fresh Oxygen. We wanted you to see how waste products and

excess fluid is taken from the body. I hope you all enjoyed this journey into, through, and

out the human body of Mr. Nod Binkins.

Conclusion

Until next time, this is Jenni Kitchen signing off. Thank you for joining us here at the

Biological News Network for this great journey through the digestion, circulatory, and

urinary systems of the body.


References

Thibodeau, G. and Patton, K., (2008). Structure and Function of the Body. St. Louis: Mosby

Elsevier.

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