Intestine - Normal Ileum
Comments: This is the appearance of the normal ileal mucosa as viewed through a standard video colonoscope under an aqueous medium. These delicate villi are 0.2 to 0.4 mm long and contribute significantly to the 500 fold increase in surface area of the small intestine. In fact, between the folding of the small bowel, these surface villi, and then the addition of the microvilli at the luminal side of the each absorptive cell, the surface area of the small bowel is roughly equivalent to that of a high school basketball court. The pleuripotential stem cells at the crypt base differentiate into the four epithelial cell types; absorptive, enteroendocrine, goblet, and Paneth's cells which then mature and move up the villous length over a 4-7 day period before exfoliating into the bowel lumen. A wide variety of inflammatory conditions can destroy or flatten this villous architecture. Those most commonly seen in this area include viral and bacterial infections and inflammatory bowel disease, most characteristically Crohn's disease
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Peter B. Kelsey, M.D. Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital |
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Citation: Kelsey, PB (Nov 01 2005). Intestine - Normal Ileum. The DAVE Project. Retrieved Feb, 9, 2010, from http://daveproject.org/viewfilms.cfm?film_id=304 Times viewed since Feb 2006: 7522 |
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