The intestine, particularly the small bowel, represents a large surface (in the adult 2 human approximately 200m ) through which the body is exposed to its environment. A vigorous substrate exchange takes place across this large surface: nutrients and xenobiotics are absorbed from the lumen into the bloodstream or the lymph, and simultaneously, the same types of substrate pass back into the lumen. The luminal surface of the intestine is lined with a "leaky" epithelium, thus the passage of the substrates, in either direction, proceeds via both transcellular and intercellular routes. Simple and...