Parsons D S
Ciba Found Symp. 1983;95:3-11. doi: 10.1002/9780470720769.ch2.
The specialized surface of the luminal border of small intestinal epithelial cells was first described by J. Henle in 1837 and for many years controversy raged about the nature of this region. Was it a plate rendered porous by perforating canals or was it composed of an array of rods with their long axes normal to the surface? Because the diameter of the microvilli was below the limits of resolution by optical microscopy, the arguments could not be settled until the region had been observed under the electron microscope in 1950. In 1961, the brush border membrane (also known as the free border or microvillus membrane) was separated for biochemical study and results on transport using vesicles were first described in 1973. The increase in surface area due to the microvilli is about 40 times and the surface: volume 'ratio' for a single microvillus is 4 X 10(5) cm-1, about 20 times that for an erythrocyte. An important but unresolved question concerns the relationships between transporter proteins in the membrane and proteins that have digestive functions; the physiological role of the glycocalyx is not yet resolved.
1837年，J. 亨勒首次描述了小肠上皮细胞腔面边界的特殊表面，多年来，关于该区域的性质一直存在激烈争论。它是一个由穿孔管道使其变得多孔的平板，还是由一系列长轴垂直于表面的杆组成？由于微绒毛的直径低于光学显微镜的分辨率极限，直到1950年在电子显微镜下观察到该区域，这些争论才得以解决。1961年，刷状缘膜（也称为游离缘或微绒毛膜）被分离出来用于生化研究，1973年首次描述了使用囊泡进行运输的结果。微绒毛导致的表面积增加约40倍，单个微绒毛的表面与体积“比”为4×10⁵ cm⁻¹，约为红细胞的20倍。一个重要但尚未解决的问题涉及膜中的转运蛋白与具有消化功能的蛋白之间的关系；糖萼的生理作用尚未明确。
