Biology Forum › Human Biology › M i c r o v i l l i Question
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- January 18, 2008 at 1:41 am #8962
lilyspetalParticipantCan someone provide an in depth explanation of microvili’s function? Do they operate to increase cell surface area as needed and why would cell surface area need to increase? Thanks.
- January 20, 2008 at 12:10 pm #80923RevengedParticipant
disarracharide enzymes (i.e. maltase and sucrase) are produced only on the villi of the small intestine…
you need them to produce single sugar units – glucose, fructose – that can be taken up by diffusion/active transport into the bloodstream…
no villi occurs in coeliac disease – where gluten causes an autoimmune reaction to destroy the tissue… you get pretty much constant diarrhoea if you don’t stick to a gluten free diet…
- January 20, 2008 at 4:04 pm #80924MrMisteryParticipant
the cell surface area needs to increase in order for absorption to take place at a high enough rate. A protein transporter can only work so fast…
More about how microvilli form here:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mboc4.figgrp.3025 - January 22, 2008 at 3:26 am #80959DarbyParticipant
There’s so much more membrane on a microvilli-covered surface; if materials are moving across that surface, in or out, they’ll move faster.
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