BI-1798
The digestive system
Biology · Secondary 4 · Hard · The digestive system
Two patients, X and Y, both have damage to their small intestines. Under a microscope, the inner surface of X shows many long villi with dense microvilli, while Y has short, flattened villi with few microvilli. Compared to X, how will Y’s rate of absorption of digested nutrients be affected, and why?
- Faster, because the villi are closer to the blood capillaries
- Slower, because there is a smaller surface area for absorption
- Unchanged, because villi length does not affect absorption
- Unchanged, because only enzymes control absorption rate
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