Chyme is defined as what?

• A. The bulging pouches in the wall of the GI tract.
• B. Gas produced in the digestive system.
• C. The partially digested food in the stomach is changed into a semiliquid state.
• D. A three-inch-long instrument used to examine the lower rectum and anal canal.

Answer: (C)

Chyme reflects what happens after food leaves the mouth and is worked on in the stomach. The stomach’s muscular mixing and gastric juices break down solids into a smooth, semiliquid mass that can move into the small intestine. This partially digested, liquid-like material is what chyme is. The other options describe something else—structures in the GI tract, gas, or a tool for examination—not the semiliquid digested material moving into the intestine.