Pepsin Role in Digestive System:
The highly acidic environment in the stomach lumen causes proteins from food to lose their characteristics folded structure. This exposes the proteins peptide bonds. The gastric chief cells of the stomach secrete enzymes for protein breakdown i.e inactive pepsinogen. Hydrochloric acid activates pepsinogen into enzyme pepsin, which then helps digestion by breaking the bonds linking amino acids, a process known as proteolysis.
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| Fig: Mechanism of Protein Digestion |
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