egestion
Quick Summary
Digestion in protozoan organisms such as amoebas and paramecia takes place when a food particle is encased in a food vacuole. The vacuole and a lysosome unite, forming a digestive vacuole, and the products of digestion are absorbed across the vacuolar membrane. Indigestible wastes are ultimately expelled.
Egestion is the process of discharging undigested or waste material from a cell or organism, specifically referring to defecation. It is the act of excreting unusable or undigested material from the digestive tract of multicellular animals.12
Materials eliminated through egestion have not entered the body's tissues. Instead, they are the residues from digestive activities within the digestive tract. This contrasts with excretion, which involves the elimination of metabolic by-products from cells and tissues. For example, bile pigments, which are residues of hemoglobin breakdown, are considered metabolic wastes eliminated via the alimentary canal.32
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