Renewal of enterochromaffin cells in the rat caecum.

The localization, morphology, and neurohormonal peptide content of neuroendocrine cells have been extensively investigated. Relatively little is known about the kinetics of growth and differentiation of these cells. We studied the kinetics of enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the caecum of the rat, by applying the thymidine analogue 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU), to identify cells in S-phase, administered in pulse-chase and synchronous continuous labeling experiments. By double indirect immunofluorescence staining of tissue sections, using antibodies against serotonin and BrdU, percentages of BrdU positive EC cells could be enumerated, from which cell-kinetic parameters were derived. The following conclusions were drawn: 1) EC cells are renewed by proliferation of EC cells and by recruitment from proliferating precursor cells. 2) Caecal EC cells appear to consist of a relatively rapidly renewing and migrating fraction (60-65%) with a turnover time of approximately 16 days and a relatively slowly renewing and possibly stationary fraction (35-40%) with an estimated turnover time of approximately 150 days. 3) Seventy percent of the EC cells are localized in the lower half of mucosal crypts, 30% in the upper half. After prolonged labeling the percentage of labeled EC cells in the lower crypt half always exceeds that in the upper crypt half. This decrease in labeled EC cells during migration towards the mucosal surface indicates loss of endocrine cells, possibly owing to loss of endocrine characteristics.