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HPCSA Board Exam The Digestive System — practice questions

Explore 42 free The Digestive System questions in HPCSA Board Exam Anatomy & Physiology. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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The Digestive System questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 42.

How long is the alimentary canal in a living person?Read the answer and worked solution →Which nerve plexus sits in the muscularis layer and sets the rhythm and force of its contractions?Read the answer and worked solution →The mouth, pharynx and esophagus have no serosa. What forms their outermost layer instead?Read the answer and worked solution →Which one of these counts as one of the six processes of digestion?Read the answer and worked solution →Where does segmentation mainly occur, and which muscle produces it?Read the answer and worked solution →The duodenum releases secretin. What does secretin make the pancreas produce?Read the answer and worked solution →Cholecystokinin is produced by the duodenum. Which pair of effects does it have?Read the answer and worked solution →Which enzyme in saliva starts the breakdown of carbohydrates in the mouth?Read the answer and worked solution →Bicarbonate and phosphate ions buffer saliva. What pH range do they hold it at?Read the answer and worked solution →In a full set of 32 permanent teeth, how many are molars?Read the answer and worked solution →Which type of muscle makes up the muscularis in the lower third of the esophagus?Read the answer and worked solution →What are the four main regions of the stomach?Read the answer and worked solution →Which two products do the parietal cells of the gastric glands make?Read the answer and worked solution →Hydrochloric acid gives the stomach contents their high acidity. What pH range does it produce?Read the answer and worked solution →Chief cells release pepsinogen rather than pepsin. What converts pepsinogen into pepsin?Read the answer and worked solution →How often is the surface epithelium of the stomach completely replaced?Read the answer and worked solution →Which single stomach function is necessary to life?Read the answer and worked solution →How long does the gastric phase of gastric secretion last?Read the answer and worked solution →Which three features of the small intestine wall enlarge its absorptive surface?Read the answer and worked solution →Each villus holds a lymphatic capillary called a lacteal. What does the lacteal take up?Read the answer and worked solution →Segmentation is fastest at the start of the small intestine. What rate does it reach in the duodenum?Read the answer and worked solution →Intestinal glands produce intestinal juice. What is its pH, and is it acidic or alkaline?Read the answer and worked solution →Which three features are unique to the large intestine?Read the answer and worked solution →Which vitamins do the bacteria of the large intestine synthesize?Read the answer and worked solution →Of every 500 mL of food residue that enters the cecum each day, how much becomes feces?Read the answer and worked solution →What does the gallbladder do with the bile the liver makes?Read the answer and worked solution →Bile is an alkaline solution. What pH range does it have?Read the answer and worked solution →Bile salts are recycled rather than lost. Where are they reabsorbed so the liver can reuse them?Read the answer and worked solution →Which brush border enzyme converts trypsinogen from the pancreas into active trypsin?Read the answer and worked solution →Which component makes pancreatic juice slightly alkaline?Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

How long is the alimentary canal in a living person?

  1. About 3.05 meters, or 10 feet
  2. About 7.62 meters, or 25 feet
  3. About 10.67 meters, or 35 feet
  4. About 15.2 meters, or 50 feet
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Correct answer: B. About 7.62 meters, or 25 feet

1. The alimentary canal is a one-way tube running from the mouth to the anus. 2. During life its length is about 7.62 meters, which is 25 feet. 3. The figure of 10.67 meters, or 35 feet, is the length measured after death, once smooth muscle tone is lost. 4. About 3.05 meters is the length of the small intestine alone, not the whole canal. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 23 "The Digestive System", section 23.1 Overview of the Digestive System_

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Which nerve plexus sits in the muscularis layer and sets the rhythm and force of its contractions?

  1. The submucosal plexus of Meissner
  2. The celiac trunk of the abdomen
  3. The myenteric plexus of Auerbach
  4. The lamina propria of the mucosa
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Correct answer: C. The myenteric plexus of Auerbach

1. Enteric neurons are grouped into two plexuses that sit in different layers of the canal wall. 2. The myenteric plexus, also called the plexus of Auerbach, lies in the muscularis and governs motility. 3. Motility means the rhythm and force of muscularis contractions, so this plexus is the answer. 4. The submucosal plexus of Meissner sits in the submucosa and regulates secretions instead. 5. The celiac trunk is an artery, and the lamina propria is connective tissue, so neither is a plexus. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 23 "The Digestive System", section 23.1 Overview of the Digestive System_

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The mouth, pharynx and esophagus have no serosa. What forms their outermost layer instead?

  1. A layer of visceral peritoneum
  2. A dense sheath of collagen fibers
  3. A fold of the greater omentum
  4. A sheet of oblique smooth muscle
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Correct answer: B. A dense sheath of collagen fibers

1. A serosa is present only where the alimentary canal lies inside the abdominal cavity. 2. The mouth, pharynx and esophagus sit outside that cavity, so they carry an adventitia instead. 3. The adventitia is a dense sheath of collagen fibers that holds these organs near the vertebral column. 4. Visceral peritoneum is the covering of the serosa itself, so it belongs to the abdominal organs. 5. The oblique smooth muscle layer is an addition to the stomach muscularis, not an outer coat. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 23 "The Digestive System", section 23.1 Overview of the Digestive System_

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