Changes in the intestinal microvillous surface area during reproduction and ageing in the female rat.

A morphometric study has been undertaken of the changes that occur in the microvillous surface area of young, pregnant, lactating, old and senescent rats. It has been shown that the microvilli are organelles with a quite stable conformation and that they exhibit no large scale dimensional changes throughout almost the entire life span. Lactation, however, does induce an apparent increase in microvillous surface area which may be associated with the significant changes which occur to the structure of the villus during reproduction in the rat.