Chief cells live deep in little pits in your stomach. They make a special helper that chops up the protein in your food.
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The inside of your stomach is covered in millions of tiny pits. Each pit leads down to a little tube called a gland. Chief cells sit near the bottom of these glands.
A chief cell is shaped like a short block. Its nucleus is near the bottom. The top of the cell is packed with little bubbles full of a helper called pepsinogen.
Scroll up to the 3D model and press Release! to watch the bubbles empty into the stomach.
Foods like eggs, beans, and meat have lots of protein. Your body needs it to grow and fix itself. But protein comes in long chains that are too big to use.
Chief cells squirt out pepsinogen. When it meets stomach acid, it turns into pepsin. Pepsin starts snipping protein chains into smaller pieces.
Pepsinogen is made switched off. It only turns on in the acid of the stomach. That way it doesn't chop up the chief cell that made it!
By Operation Ouch. A fun video for kids.
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