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HPCSA Board Exam The Digestive System — practice questions — page 2

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 31–42 of 42.

Which three structures are the liver's three main components?Read the answer and worked solution →Lactase acts on lactose. Which two monosaccharides does it release?Read the answer and worked solution →What does pancreatic lipase leave behind after acting on one triglyceride?Read the answer and worked solution →By which route do chylomicrons reach the bloodstream after leaving an intestinal epithelial cell?Read the answer and worked solution →Glucose and galactose enter intestinal cells by co-transport with sodium. How does fructose enter?Read the answer and worked solution →Vitamin B12 binds intrinsic factor. Where is the resulting complex taken up, and by what mechanism?Read the answer and worked solution →About how much of the water reaching the small intestine is absorbed there?Read the answer and worked solution →Trace food from mouth to anusRead the answer and worked solution →Fill the digestive cell boardRead the answer and worked solution →Catch the brush border enzymesRead the answer and worked solution →Send each enzyme to its makerRead the answer and worked solution →Pick the bigger gut numberRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Which three structures are the liver's three main components?

  1. Acini, islets, and pancreatic ducts
  2. Rugae, gastric pits, and glands
  3. Villi, lacteals, and brush borders
  4. Hepatocytes, canaliculi, and sinusoids
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Correct answer: D. Hepatocytes, canaliculi, and sinusoids

1. The hepatocyte is the liver's main cell type and makes up around 80 percent of the organ by volume. 2. Grooves between adjacent hepatocytes form bile canaliculi, the small ducts that collect the bile they make. 3. Hepatic sinusoids are open, porous blood spaces fed by the hepatic portal vein and hepatic artery. 4. Those three, hepatocytes, bile canaliculi and hepatic sinusoids, are the liver's main components. 5. Acini and islets are the exocrine and endocrine units of the pancreas instead. 6. Rugae and gastric pits belong to the stomach, and villi and lacteals to the small intestine. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 23 "The Digestive System", section 23.6 Accessory Organs in Digestion: The Liver, Pancreas, and Gallbladder_

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Lactase acts on lactose. Which two monosaccharides does it release?

  1. Glucose and galactose
  2. Glucose and glucose
  3. Glucose and fructose
  4. Fructose and galactose
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Correct answer: A. Glucose and galactose

1. Three brush border enzymes split the common disaccharides into monosaccharides. 2. Lactase breaks lactose, the milk sugar, into one glucose and one galactose. 3. Sucrase splits sucrose into fructose and glucose, so that pairing belongs to a different enzyme. 4. Maltase breaks maltose into two glucose molecules, which is why the glucose pair is wrong here. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 23 "The Digestive System", section 23.7 Chemical Digestion and Absorption: A Closer Look_

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What does pancreatic lipase leave behind after acting on one triglyceride?

  1. Three free fatty acids and free glycerol
  2. Two free fatty acids and a monoglyceride
  3. One free fatty acid and a diglyceride
  4. Two free fatty acids and free glycerol
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Correct answer: B. Two free fatty acids and a monoglyceride

1. A triglyceride is a glycerol molecule carrying three fatty acid chains. 2. Pancreatic lipase does not strip all three chains off in one go. 3. It breaks each triglyceride into two free fatty acids and a monoglyceride. 4. The monoglyceride keeps the glycerol backbone with one fatty acid still attached. 5. Options that leave free glycerol assume complete stripping, which pancreatic lipase does not do. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 23 "The Digestive System", section 23.7 Chemical Digestion and Absorption: A Closer Look_

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