What role do the intestinal glands play in the enzymatic digestion that occurs in the small intestine?
When the stomach contents enter the small intestine, the acidity also stimulates the intestinal glands to secrete their digestive enzymes. The intestinal glands secrete the enzymes maltase, sucrase, and lactase that split the double sugars maltose, sucrose, and lactose, respectively, into glucose, thus completing the breakdown of sugars. In addition, the intestinal glands secrete endopeptidases, which hydrolyze the peptide bonds within protein chains, and exopeptidases, which split terminal amino acids off peptide chains, thus completing the break down of proteins into their constituent parts.
