1. JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 1
A Journey;
In, Through, and Out
Jennifer Kitchen
HS130-01
Unit 9 Assignment
Kaplan University
November 19, 2011

2. JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 2
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 Pathof 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

3. JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 3
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 viathe 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

4. JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 4
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 theInferior 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

5. JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 5
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

6. JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 6
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.

7. JKitchen_HS120_unit9Assignment 7
References
Thibodeau, G. and Patton, K., (2008). Structure and Function of the Body. St. Louis: Mosby
Elsevier.