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Concept
Large intestine
Summary
The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before being removed by defecation. The colon is the longest portion of the large intestine, and the terms are often used interchangeably but most sources define the large intestine as the combination of the cecum, colon, rectum, and anal canal. Some other sources exclude the anal canal.
In humans, the large intestine begins in the right iliac region of the pelvis, just at or below the waist, where it is joined to the end of the small intestine at the cecum, via the ileocecal valve. It then continues as the colon ascending the abdomen, across the width of the abdominal cavity as the transverse colon, and then descending to the rectum and its endpoint at the anal canal. Overall, in humans, the large intestine is about long, which is about one-fifth of the whole length of the human gastrointestinal tract.
Digestion
The colon of the large intestine is the last part of the digestive system. It has a segmented appearance due to a series of saccules called haustra. It extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body and is the site in which the fermentation of unabsorbed material by the gut microbiota occurs. Unlike the small intestine, the colon does not play a major role in absorption of foods and nutrients. About 1.5 litres or 45 ounces of water arrives in the colon each day.
The colon is the longest part of the large intestine and its average length in the adult human is 65 inches or 166 cm (range of 80 to 313 cm) for males, and 61 inches or 155 cm (range of 80 to 214 cm) for females.
In mammals, the large intestine consists of the cecum (including the appendix), colon (the longest part), rectum, and anal canal.
The four sections of the colon are: the ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, and sigmoid colon. These sections turn at the colic flexures.
Official source
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