AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Peristalsis is a type of involuntary muscle movement that occurs in your digestive system. It begins in your throat when you swallow, and continues to propel food and fluids throughout your gastrointestinal tract. You can think of your GI tract as a series of hollow organs joined together to form one long passageway.

Detailed explanation-2: -Smooth muscles act by involuntary peristalsis, moving food through the digestive system.

Detailed explanation-3: -Peristalsis is a series of wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract. It starts in the esophagus where strong wave-like motions of the smooth muscle move balls of swallowed food to the stomach.

Detailed explanation-4: -A series of normal coordinated, rhythmic muscle contractions, that occurs automatically to move food through the digestive tract is called peristalsis.

Detailed explanation-5: -Human physiology. Peristalsis is generally directed caudal, that is, towards the anus. This sense of direction might be attributable to the polarisation of the myenteric plexus. Because of the reliance of the peristaltic reflex on the myenteric plexus, it is also referred to as the myenteric reflex.