Fundic - Parietal glands - Chief cells

3 important questions on Fundic - Parietal glands - Chief cells

What exactly do chief cells do?

They secrete inactive pro-enzymes (zymogens/pepsinogens) into the gastric lumen. These zymogens are cleaved by gastric HCl and turned into active enzymes to digest proteins

Why do chief cells reelase pro-enzymes as opposed to regular enzymes?

Releasing active enzymes would lead to the digestion of chief cells.

Effect of HCl in chief cell pro-enzymes per species

Monogastric animals: pepsinogen + HCl -> pepsinogen
Ruminants: prochymosin (chymosinogen) + HCl -> chymosin/rennin
  • found only in abomasum to coagulate milk (digest kappa casein)
  • curdling slows movement of milk from stomach to intestine

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