Development of the pattern of cell renewal in the crypt-villus unit of chimaeric mouse small intestine.

We have previously shown that the epithelium of each adult intestinal crypt in chimaeric mice is derived from a single progenitor cell. Whether the crypts are monoclonal from the outset-that is, are formed by the proliferation of a single cell-or whether their formation is initiated by several cells was not known. Here we report that many crypts contain cells of both chimaeric genotypes in the neonatal period indicating a polyclonal origin at this stage of morphogenesis. The cellular organization of the early neonatal crypt is therefore different from that of the adult crypt, which includes a zone of 'anchored' stem cells above the crypt base. Within 2 weeks, however, the crypt progenitor cell and its descendants displace all other cells from the crypt and the crypt attains monoclonality. The distribution of enterocytes on chimaeric villi in the neonate shows a mottled pattern of mosaicism which is progressively replaced by coherent sheets of cells from the crypts, and within two weeks the orderly adult clonal pattern is established.