Epithelial cells involved in absorption of digested food have on their free surface
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Answer: The Epithelial cells involved in absorption of digested food have 'microvilli' on their free surface.
Most of the absorption of the digested food takes place in the small intestine. For this, they have specialized cells called simple columnar epithelial cells. These cells have the free surface facing the lumen of the small intestine which is also called as the apical surface. On this surface, they contain finger like projections. These projections are the folds of the plasma membrane which are called as microvilli.
By increasing the surface area of plasma membrane, microvilli help in the efficient absorption of essential nutrients from the small intestine.
Digested food pass through blood vessels in the wall of intestine through diffusion process.
Inner wall, or mucosa are covered in wrinkles or folds called as plicae circulars in which the finger-like pieces are tissue called villi that turns as finger-like projections called as the Microvilli.
Function of plicae circulars is to increase amount of surface area that is especially available for nutrient absorption.