[Relationships between the cell proliferation and the differentiation in the embryonic and larval intestine ofPleurodeles waltlii michah I. Normal development].

Differentiation of the intestinal epithelium ofPleurodeles occurs during the last period of embryogenesis (stage 34) and is completed during the first stages of larval development before the onset of feeding (stage 37). In the course of this 4-day period the intestinal epithelium, which is a closed endodermal cylinder at stage 34, becomes a functional epithelium constituted by columnar absorbing cells and goblet cells. During intestinal differentiation, the cell number rises although the growth fraction decreases from 52% to 22%. At stage 34, mitoses are randomly distributed throughout the endoderm, but at stage 36 they become confined to cell nests which appear beneath the epithelium.The cell nests correspond to the proliferating compartment which produces an equal number of dividing cells and of resting cells: these cells are arrested in the G1 phase of the generative cycle and differentiate. Such a pattern of proliferation and differentiation maintains a constant number of proliferating stem cells which subserve the renewing function in the intestinal epithelium after the onset of feeding. The relationships between cell proliferation and differentiation in the developing intestinal epithelium ofPleurodeles are closely similar to those observed in Mammals and suggest particularly that the intestinal cell nests of Urodela are analogous to the crypts of Lieberkühn in higher Vertebrates.