 Dear students, in this topic, we shall discuss the control mechanisms of digestive secretions. The regulation of secretary rate and quantity of the digestive secretions happens by the involuntary neural and hormonal controls, the presence of food and the cognition are thought processes. We shall discuss these three types of controls in detail one by one. First, we are going to discuss the involuntary neural and hormonal controls. These controls control all the security activities of glands. For example, slivary secretions are very rapid. They are entirely under involuntary neural control. Gastic secretions are under hormonal as well as neural control. The intestinal secretions are quite slower. They are primarily under hormonal control. Here we can see that general principles of neural and hormonal controls are applicable to digestive secretions. Neural control predominates in rapid responses while endocrine mechanisms are involved in slow responses. Now we shall discuss the role of presence of food on digestive secretions. The primary stimulus of digestive secretions is the presence of food. This is because the food molecules stimulate the chemosensory nerve endings which act on the autonomic efferents which activate or inhibit motility and exocrine secretions. Food molecules also activate epithelial endocrine cells. As a result, gastrointestinal hormones are secreted. These gastrointestinal hormones coordinate the secretive organs with the need for digestion. In mammals, digestive secretions are also affected by cognition and thought processes. Mental images of food or learned behaviors stimulate these digestive secretions.