Digestion starts in your mouth! Serous acinar cells make watery spit with a helper that starts breaking down food.
Drag to turn it around. Use the buttons to zoom in and try things from the lessons.
The 3D model can't load right now. Check your internet connection, or try a different web browser.
Your salivary glands make spit. The biggest ones are in your cheeks, just in front of your ears.
Inside, cells sit in little round clusters called acini, like a bunch of grapes at the end of a stem. The stem is a tiny tube that carries spit to your mouth.
Serous cells are shaped a bit like pieces of a pie. The tops near the middle are packed with tiny bags of enzyme.
When you smell or taste food, these cells squirt out watery spit. It has an enzyme called amylase.
Just thinking about your favorite food can make your mouth water!
Chew a plain cracker slowly for a minute before you swallow. Does it start to taste a little sweeter? That's amylase turning starch into sugar!