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Microvilli (sg.: microvillus) are microscopic cellular membrane protrusions that increase the surface area for diffusion and minimize any increase in volume, [1] and are involved in a wide variety of functions, including absorption, secretion, cellular adhesion, and mechanotransduction.
Membrane protrusions or cell appendages, extend from the cell membrane, and include microvilli, cilia, and flagella. [9] Microvilli increase the surface area of a tissue , such as from their abundance on tissue protrusions such as intestinal villi .
Microvilli are approximately 100 nanometers in diameter and their length varies from approximately 100 to 2,000 nanometers. Because individual microvilli are so small and are tightly packed in the brush border, individual microvilli can only be resolved using electron microscopes ; [ 1 ] with a light microscope they can usually only be seen ...
Tracheal respiratory epithelium showing cilia and much smaller microvilli on non-ciliated cells in scanning electron micrograph. Mammals also have motile cilia or secondary cilia that are usually present on a cell's surface in large numbers (multiciliate), and beat in coordinated metachronal waves . [ 40 ]
It is present in the lining of the fallopian tubes, where currents generated by the cilia propel the egg cell toward the uterus. Ciliated columnar epithelium forms the neuroepithelium of the ependyma that lines the ventricles of the brain and central canal of the spinal cord. These cilia move the cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF).
Stereocilia of the epididymis are not cilia because their cytoskeleton is composed of actin filaments, not microtubules. [3] They are structurally and molecularly more similar to microvilli than to true cilia. [dubious – discuss] Pseudostratified columnar epithelia are found forming the straight, tubular glands of the endometrium in females. [4]
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Stereocilia are cylindrical and non-motile. They are much longer and thicker than microvilli, form single "finger-like" projections that may be branched, and have more of the characteristics of the cellular membrane proper. Like microvilli, they contain actin [1] and lack an axoneme. This distinguishes them from cilia.