US EPA

4778651 

Journal Article 

The turnover of the epithelium of the small intestine 

Creamer, B 

1967 

Yes 

British Medical Bulletin
ISSN: 0007-1420
EISSN: 1471-8391 

23 

3 

226-230 

English 

6074279 

In mammals the small-Intestinal mucosa has evolved into highly specialized organ. Some organs of the body, like the kidney and the brain, are composed of an almost permanent cell personnel, whereas others, such as the blood, function with a rapidly changing population. Most of the gastrointestlnal tract epithelium works on the principle of rapid replacement, and the most dynamic partis the small intestinal mucosa, so that It is probably the organ with the fastest cell turnover In the body. The small-intestinal mucoea consists of tubular crypts in continuity with villi which project into the lumen. The crypts are speclalized as production zones where cell division occurs, and from them the adult epithelial cells stream out and up the villi. At the end of their life the cells are lost from extrusion zones at the tlps of the villi and desquamate Into the gut lumen. Thus the crypts are almost solely for cell production, while the villi provide a large surface area and are almost wholly for absorptlon. The concept was first suggested in 1888 by Bizzozero but it has only been in the past twenty year that new techniques have amply confirmed the facts of epithelial turnover. The name of Leblond ls associated with much of this advance.