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Pepsin is an Enzyme that breaks down proteins during digestion. It is produced by the walls of the stomach. It requires a strongly acidic environment such as that present in the stomach. It digests large protein molecules into smaller protein molecules (smaller polypeptides) and is therefore a protease - an enzyme that breaks down a protein. In the stomach, chief cells release pepsinogen. This zymogen is activated by hydrochloric acid (HCl), which is released from parietal cells in the stomach lining. The hormone gastrin and the vagus nerve trigger the release of both pepsinogen and HCl from the stomach lining when food is ingested. Hydrochloric acid creates an acidic environment which allows pepsinogen to unfold and cleave itself in an autocatalytic fashion, thereby generating pepsin (the active form). Pepsin will digest up to 20% of ingested carbon bonds by cleaving preferentially after the N-terminal of aromatic amino acids. Pepsin is stored as pepsinogen so it will only be released when needed, and does not digest the body's own proteins in the stomach's lining.

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