File:Gastrointestinal villi and crypts cartoon.jpg

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Gastrointestinal Villi and Crypts cartoon

Villi Crypts
  • intestinal mucosa forms intestinal villi about 1 mm long.
  • increase the surface area by about ten-fold.
  • villi surface is a simple columnar epithelium.
  • each absorptive cell or enterocyte of the epithelium forms numerous microvilli (1 µm long and about 0.1 µm wide).
    • microvilli increase the surface area again by a factor of about twenty-fold.
  • crypts of Lieberkühn.
  • lie between the intestinal villi and are openings of simple tubular glands.
  • extend through the lamina propria down to the muscularis mucosae.
  • Undifferentiated cells close to the bottom of the crypts regenerate the epithelium (epithelial cell turnover time is less than one week).
  • Other epithelial cells in the crypts correspond largely to those in the epithelium of the intestinal villi.
  • Paneth cells
    • are located at the bottom of the crypts
    • release a number of antibacterial substances, including lysozyme.
    • thought to be involved in the control of infections.


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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, April 28) Embryology Gastrointestinal villi and crypts cartoon.jpg. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/File:Gastrointestinal_villi_and_crypts_cartoon.jpg

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© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G

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current13:48, 18 February 2013Thumbnail for version as of 13:48, 18 February 2013500 × 333 (28 KB)Z8600021 (talk | contribs)==Gastrointestinal villi and crypts cartoon== The entire intestinal mucosa forms intestinal villi (about one mm long), which increase the surface area by a factor of ~ ten. The surface of the villi is formed by a simple columnar epithelium. Each absorpti

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