Abstract
The intestinal epithelium is a repetitive sheet of crypt and villus units with stem cells at the bottom of the crypts. During postnatal development, crypts multiply via fission, generating 2 daughter crypts from 1 parental crypt. In the adult intestine, crypt fission is observed at a low frequency. Using intravital microscopy in Lgr5EGFP-Ires-CreERT2 mice, we monitored individual crypt dynamics over multiple days with single-cell resolution. We discovered the existence of crypt fusion, an almost exact reverse phenomenon of crypt fission, in which 2 crypts fuse into 1 daughter crypt. Examining 819 crypts in 4 mice, we found that 3.5% ± 0.6% of all crypts were in the process of fission, whereas 4.1 ± 0.9% of all crypts were undergoing crypt fusion. As counteracting processes, crypt fission and fusion could regulate crypt numbers during the lifetime of a mouse. Identifying the mechanisms that regulate rates of crypt fission and fusion could provide insights into intestinal adaptation to altered environmental conditions and disease pathogenesis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 674-677.e3 |
| Journal | Gastroenterology |
| Volume | 153 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2017 |
Keywords
- Animals
- Cell Fusion
- Female
- Homeostasis
- Intestinal Mucosa
- Intravital Microscopy
- Male
- Mice
- Stem Cells
- Journal Article