D2 digestion

Adaptations of the villi

After the food passes out of the stomach, it enters the small
intestine. Here the food is digested further, but a major function of
the small intestine is absorption. The epithelial cells lining the
small intestines are highly adapted for this absorption process.

The mucosa of the small intestine has villi to increase the surface area for absorption, but each of the
epithelial cells of the villus has further folding, called microvilli (or a brush border). These increase the
surface area for absorption even more.

As some substances are absorbed by active transport and pinocytosis (a type of endocytosis) ATP is needed
for the absorption process. Therefore, epithelial cells have a high number of mitochondria. The epithelium
acts as a selective barrier for absorption, to ensure only useful substances are absorbed from the digested
food into the blood and lacteals. For this to work, it is important that these substances are forced to enter
the epithelial cells, rather than just slip in between them. Therefore, epithelial cells are held tightly together
with no gaps. They are said to have tight junctions between the cells. The membrane closest to the lumen is
called the apical membrane, the membrane closest to the blood capillaries and lacteal is called the basal
membrane. These membranes have different properties but the basal membrane can also have some
projections to increase the surface area for the removal of substances OUT of the epithelial cells.
 D2 digestion
● Answer the following data based question.

● Identify and label the following on the electron micrograph below: microvilli, tight junctions,
mitochondria, nucleus and nuclear pore.