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The hormones of the digestive tract
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When you think of hormones you think of the thyroid or the ovaries, but the largest endocrine organ in your body is the digestive tract, and the messengers it makes regulate the tract itself. It is a tube that sends messages to itself.
Five of those messengers are released into the blood, which is why they are called endocrine: gastrin, cholecystokinin, secretin, GIP, and motilin. The G cells of the stomach release gastrin when half-digested protein fragments reach them, or when the stomach stretches.
Farther along, when that food passes into the duodenum, the first segment of the small intestine, the pH drops because the food arrives bathed in stomach acid: that releases secretin. And fat and protein that have already been digested release cholecystokinin.
Together they do far more than signal. They move the muscle of the wall and the sphincters, they trigger the release of enzymes, water, and salts, and they even make the tissues of the tract itself grow.
In brief
The digestive tract is the body's largest endocrine organ, and it makes the messengers that regulate it.
A tube that sends messages to itself.
Five of these hormones travel through the blood: gastrin, cholecystokinin, secretin, GIP, and motilin.
G cells release gastrin when protein fragments arrive or the stomach stretches.
A low pH in the duodenum releases secretin; digested fat and protein release cholecystokinin.
Together they move the tract's muscle, draw out enzymes and fluid, and make its tissues grow.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingPhysiology, Gastrointestinal Hormonal Control, StatPearlsPublished
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