Intestines Flashcards
What are plicae circulares and how are they different from rugae?
They are submucosal folds in the intestines that are PERMANENT, rather than the temporary submucosal folds of rugae
What are villi? Where are they found?
Finger-like mucosal folds that project into the lumen, greatly increasing surface area
They are found only in the small intestine
What are crypts of Lieberkuhn? What type are they?
Intestinal mucosal glands. They are simple tubular glands that open at the base of villi and empty into lumen between neighboring villi.
What are the features of the lamina propria of the intestines?
It is the delicate CT that forms the core of the villus and surrounds the glands, containing lymphatic vessels (i.e. central lacteal) and capillary network that runs just under the epithelium. May have diffuse or nodular lymphatic tissue
What is a central lacteal? What could cause it to swell?
A blind-ending vessel that begins near tip of villus and runs through the central core of the villus, draining into a plexus in the lamina propria and submucosa. Lots of fat absorption will cause it to swell.
What are Brunner’s glands?
Submucosal glands which are present in the duodenum only. Ducts drain into crypts of Lieberkuhn
Compound branched tubular glands producing alkaline mucus to buffer the acidic chyme from the pyloric stomach.
What are the actions of the two different orientations of muscle in the muscularis externa of the intestines?
Inner circular layer - contraction results in segmentation
Outer longitudinal layer - contraction results in peristalsis
What are enterocytes and what is their surface called?
Primary cell type covering the villi - columnar absorptive cell
Apical surface is covered with microvilli called the striated border
What crosslinks actin and actin to the membrane in microvilli?
Between actin: Villin + fimbrin
Between actin and membrane: myosin I and calmodulin
What anchors actin + cytokeratin intermediate filaments in terminal web?
The junction complex, including zonula occludens, zonula adherens, and macula adherens
What is the function of the proteins in the enterocyte glycocalyx?
Contains oligosaccharidases, disaccharidases, and peptidases which break down carbohydrates for uptake of sugars. This allows monosaccharides to be absorbed by active transport and move to basement membrane, and taken up by fenestrated capillaries.
What are the functions of enterocytes?
- Uptake of ions
- Uptake of sugars
- Uptake of peptides / amino acids
- Uptake of lipids
- Uptake of vitamin B12
- Recycling of unconjugated bile salts
- Uptake of water
- Release of secretory IgA
What causes lactose intolerance?
Genetic defect in lactase in enterocyte glycocalyx
What enzymes are involved in the uptake of peptides via enterocytes?
Enterokinase in in glycocalyx, which activates trypsinogen from pancreas to form trypsin.
Trypsin activates other pancreatic proenzymes, which cleave proteins to amino acids that can be uptaken by enterocytes
How are lipids uptaken by enterocytes? What is the role of smooth ER?
Pancreatic lipase in the presence of bile salts breaks down lipids to free fatty acids and monoglycerides which diffiuse into enterocytes.
Smooth ER resynthesizes triglycerides and transfers them to Golgi complexes for further processing and packaging to chylomicra
What are chylomicra and where are they released?
Vesicles formed in Golgi of enterocytes, released in intercellular space in lateral margin. They move towards lacteals in center of villus
How is vitamin B12 uptaken by enterocytes?
Gastric intrinsic factor (IF) is produced by parietal cells in gastric glands in the fundic stomach, which binds to B12 in intestinal lumen, which can be taken up by enterocyte.
It is liberated in the enterocyte and transported across the basal membrane
How do enterocytes help the liver?
They recycle unconjugated bile salts, which are returned to liver hepatocytes