Differentiation and self-renewal in the mouse gastrointestinal epithelium.

ABSTRACT

The mouse gut epithelium represents a dynamic, geographically well organized, developmental system for examining self-renewal and differentiation. Reagents are now available for identifying the molecular mechanisms that regulate cell fate in the gut, the migration-associated differentiation programs of its component cell lineages, and its axial patterning. Considerable attention needs to be paid to two variables when studying gastrointestinal epithelial cell biology space and time. This has necessitated the use of normal, chimeric, and transgenic animals as experimental models.