What do villi do?

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What The Villi Does In The Human Anatomy:

Villi is the pleural of Villus. A villus is a finger like projection (most commonly thought of are the ones in the small intestine). They are about ten cells tall and as such are almost invisible to the naked eye, they are easily detected by touch as they give the feeling of Velvet. Within the villi in the small intestines are blood and lymph vessels to collect the products of digestion. The reason for the villi is that absorption rate increases with an increase surface area as more molecules can cross the membranes in a given time. The presence of the villi increases the surface area about 10 fold (although other statistics will say otherwise) thus increasing the absorptive capability of the intestine overall.

People with wheat-gluten problems will have a smooth Villi before they are diagnosed correctly and it takes time to rebuilt the ridges to hold the nutrition so the patient may lose protein (causing swelling legs and ankles), loss of weight until the Villi corrects itself.

In all humans, the villi and micro villi together increase intestinal absorptive surface area 30-fold and 600-fold, respectively, providing exceptionally efficient absorption of nutrients in the lumen. This increases the surface area of the intestine to around the area of a small parking lot or a tennis court.

There are also enzymes on the surface for digestion. Villus capillaries collect amino acids and simple sugars taken up by the villi into the blood stream. Villus lacteals collect absorbed fatty acids. ^[1]

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intestinal_villus

First answer by Marcy. Last edit by Anatomy James. Contributor trust: 30 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 32 [recommend question]