Open AccessCONTROL OF INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL REPLACEMENT: LACK OF EVIDENCE FOR A TISSUE‐SPECIFIC BLOOD‐BORNE FACTOR
Author(s) -
Clarke Rufus M.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
cell proliferation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1365-2184
pISSN - 0960-7722
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2184.1974.tb00904.x
Subject(s) - crypt , small intestine , large intestine , biology , jejunum , ileum , anastomosis , anatomy , endocrinology , medicine , biochemistry , surgery
The small intestine of rats was cut across in two places, about 14 and 50% of the length of the small intestine from the pylorus, and continuity was re‐established by suturing the proximal and distal ends. The resulting sac of small intestine, averaging 36% of the total length of the small intestine, had its upper end closed off, and its lower end anastomosed, either to the intestine‐in‐continuity (an ‘intestine‐sac’), or to the skin of the abdominal wall (a ‘skin‐sac’). On the ninth post‐operative day, the cell production rate in squashes of micro‐dissected whole crypts of Lieberkühn was measured by mitotic blockade with Colcemid. The rate of cell production in unoperated and sham‐operated rats was 30 cells/crypt/hr, throughout the length of the small intestine. In the intestine in continuity, the rate increased to an average of 46 cells/crypt/hr above the anastomosis, and to 54 cells/crypt/hr below it. At the lower end of the ‘intestine‐sac’, which drained into the intestine‐in‐continuity, the rate was 39 cells/crypt/hr, while in the lower end of the sac which drained to skin the rate of cell production was only 16 cells/crypt/hr. This significantly lower cell production rate in intestine which was not in contact with ingesta is taken to be evidence of the importance of local, rather than blood‐borne factors in the control of epithelial replacement.