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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Figure and Tables All Versions of this Article: 294/1/G286    most recent 00416.2007v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gulati, A. S. Articles by Henning, S. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gulati, A. S. Articles by Henning, S. J.

MUCOSAL BIOLOGY

Molecular properties of side population-sorted cells from mouse small intestine

¹Department of Pediatrics, ²Huffington Center on Aging, and ³Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Submitted 14 September 2007 ; accepted in final form 9 November 2007

The high rate of turnover of the intestinal epithelium is maintained by a group of stem cells that reside at the base of the crypts of Lieberkuhn. Whereas the existence of these intestinal epithelial stem cells has been well established, their study has been limited due to the inability to isolate them. Previous work has utilized side population (SP) sorting of the murine small intestine to isolate a viable fraction of cells enriched for putative intestinal epithelial stem cells. In the present study, we have used gene expression profiling techniques to characterize the molecular features of this potential stem cell population. Further in situ hybridization studies reveal that transcripts enriched in the SP tend to localize to the intestinal crypt base/progenitor cell zone, while deenriched transcripts localize outside of this region. From a functional standpoint, gene ontology and pathway mapping analyses demonstrate that immune, mesenchymal, and differentiated epithelial cells are depleted in the SP fraction, while putative progenitor cells are enriched in this cell population. Furthermore, the significance of the maturity onset diabetes of the young pathway in these cells suggests that enteroendocrine progenitors are enriched in this cell fraction as well. In conclusion, SP sorting of mouse small intestinal mucosa does appear to isolate cells with progenitor characteristics. These findings provide the foundation for membrane protein-based sorting procedures that can be used to further fractionate these cells for transplantation experiments in the future.

stem cells; epithelium; progenitor; microarray; functional genomics