A reserve stem cell population in small intestine renders Lgr5-positive cells dispensable.

ABSTRACT: The small intestine epithelium renews every 2 to 5 days, making it one of the most regenerative mammalian tissues. Genetic inducible fate mapping studies have identified two principal epithelial stem cell pools in this tissue. One pool consists of columnar Lgr5-expressing cells that cycle rapidly and are present predominantly at the crypt base. The other pool consists of Bmi1-expressing cells that largely reside above the crypt base. However, the relative functions of these two pools and their interrelationship are not understood. Here we specifically ablated Lgr5-expressing cells in mice using a human diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR) gene knocked into the Lgr5 locus. We found that complete loss of the Lgr5-expressing cells did not perturb homeostasis of the epithelium, indicating that othe

SUBMITTER: Tian H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4251967 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature