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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Three-Dimensional Culture of Murine Colonic Crypts to Study Intestinal Stem Cell Function Ex Vivo
Published on: October 11, 2022
Neutral dynamics and cell renewal of colonic crypts in homeostatic regime
A J Fendrik1,2,3, L Romanelli1,2, E Rotondo1
1Instituto de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento-J.M.Gutierrez 1150, (1613) Los Polvorines, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Abstract:
The self renewal process in colonic crypts is the object of several studies. We present here a new compartment model with the following characteristics: (a) we distinguish different classes of cells: stem cells, six generations of transit amplifying cells and the differentiated cells; (b) in order to take into account the monoclonal character of crypts in homeostatic regimes we include symmetric divisions of the stem cells. We first consider the dynamic differential equations that describe the evolution of the mean values of the populations, but the small observed value of the total number of cells involved plus the huge dispersion of experimental data found in the literature leads us to study the stochastic discrete process. This analysis allows us to study fluctuations, the neutral drift that leads to monoclonality, and the effects of the fixation of mutant clones.
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