Journal article
Cell Organisation in the Colonic Crypt: A Theoretical Comparison of the Pedigree and Niche Concepts
RC van der Wath, BS Gardiner, AW Burgess, DW Smith
Plos One | Published : 2013
Abstract
The intestinal mucosa is a monolayer of rapidly self-renewing epithelial cells which is not only responsible for absorption of water and nutrients into the bloodstream but also acts as a protective barrier against harmful microbes entering the body. New functional epithelial cells are produced from stem cells, and their proliferating progeny. These stem cells are found within millions of crypts (tubular pits) spaced along the intestinal tract. The entire intestinal epithelium is replaced every 2-3 days in mice (3-5 days in humans) and hence cell production, differentiation, migration and turnover need to be tightly regulated. Malfunctions in this regulation are strongly linked to inflammator..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was made possible through Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support and Australian Government NHMRC IRIISS. This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia (Project Grant 542531 and Program Grant 487922). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.