Samenvatting
The intestinal epithelium is the most rapidly self-renewing tissue in adult mammals. We have recently demonstrated the presence of about six cycling Lgr5 + stem cells at the bottoms of small-intestinal crypts. Here we describe the establishment of long-term culture conditions under which single crypts undergo multiple crypt fission events, while simultanously generating villus-like epithelial domains in which all differentiated cell types are present. Single sorted Lgr5 + stem cells can also initiate these crypt-villus organoids. Tracing experiments indicate that the Lgr5 + stem-cell hierarchy is maintained in organoids. We conclude that intestinal crypt-villus units are self-organizing structures, which can be built from a single stem cell in the absence of a non-epithelial cellular niche.
Originele taal-2 | Engels |
---|---|
Pagina's (van-tot) | 262-265 |
Aantal pagina's | 4 |
Tijdschrift | Nature |
Volume | 459 |
Nummer van het tijdschrift | 7244 |
DOI's | |
Status | Gepubliceerd - 14 mei 2009 |
Extern gepubliceerd | Ja |