Question

Describe these structures and their function in the small intestines:
Villi
Smooth muscle ______
Intestinal glands _______

Answer 1

Villi are finger-like probes extending out from the walls of your small intestine, thereby increasing its surface area and allowing it to drain more nutrients out of the food in your body. I'm not sure about the other two, though.

Answer 2

Villi: Are whiplike, motile cellular extentions that extend out of the surface of some cells. In the case of the small intestine, they are the folds of the mucosa which contain capillaries and lacteals. These villi increase the surface area of the small intestine, by several folds making nutrient absorption even more efficient.

Smooth muscle: The muscularis of the small intestine. It is involved in the movement of chyme and also secretion.

Intestinal glands: At the duodenum, bile enters through the common bile duct and emulsifies fats. Pancreatic enzymes are produced by the pancreas through pancreatic duct. They are trypsin, that digests polypeptides into peptides and individual amino acids, ready to be absorbed. Also, amylase which break downs disaccharides and polysaccharides into mono-saccharides i.e glucose. We also have lipase that breaks down lipids/triglycerides into monoglycerides or fatty acid chains.