152 



On a Peculiar Structure in the Columnar Epithelial 

 Cells of the Intestines, in connection with the Ausokt- 

 TioN of Fatty Matters. By A. Kolliker. 



(From the ' Verhaud]. d. i)liys. med. Gesellschaft,' vol. vi, 1S55.) 



1. The epithelial cells of the small intestine in mammals, 

 birds, and amphibia have on the side tui*ned towards the 

 caAdty of the intestine a thickened wall, in which, nnder 

 favorable circumstances, and with a good microscope, a 

 manifest delicate striation may be perceived; which also, 

 though with far more difficulty, and with certainty almost 

 exclusively in the rabbit, when ^dewed from above, appears as 

 a fine punctation. 



2. This thickened, striated cell-wall, which may be readily 

 perceived even in isolated cells, swells up in water and dilute 

 solutions to more than double its primitive thickness, becomes 

 very manifestly striated, even breaking up, as it were, into 

 separate fibrillse, so that the cells assume the aspect of ciliated 

 cells. Ultimately water destroys the entire border fi-om 

 without to within, the innermost portion offering the longest 

 resistance. Besides this, water induces two especial changes 

 in the intestinal cells. In the first place, it forces mucous 

 di'ops out of the uninjured cells, Avhich have been erroneously 

 explained as being swollen cells ; and secondly, also, it fre- 

 quently raises off" the thickened membrane in toto ; both of 

 which circumstances are generally very readily distinguishable 

 from each other. 



3. In herbivorous mammals, the thickened and striated 

 membranes are absent in the large intestine, as Avell as in the 

 amphibia and birds ; whilst in the carnivora and in man a 

 faint indication of its presence may be discerned in this 

 portion of the intestinal canal as well ; in the stomach the 

 membranes of the columnar cells do not present this 

 characteristic. 



4. In the mammalia, the fat before its absorption is trans- 

 formed into immeasurably minute molecules, in which form 

 it also enters the epithelial cells. The larger oil-drops, which, 

 under certain conditions, are seen within perfectly recent 

 cells, do not necessarily show that the fatty matter had 

 entered in that form. 



5. Among the common epithelial cells, there are found in 

 all animals, and in every part of the intestine, other granular 

 cells, of a more clavate form, mostlv Avithout distinct nucleus. 



