Abstract
The mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract is the most rapidly proliferating tissue in the body. All four differentiated intestinal cell lineages originate from a population of multipotent stem cells located within the intestinal crypts. There are two opposing models of the position of stem cells within the intestinal crypts in the literature, the '+4 position' model and the 'stem cell zone' model. In the 'stem cell zone' model the stem cells are intermingled with the Paneth cells while the '+4 position' model places the stem cells just above the Paneth cells at the +4 position. Up to date, different intestinal stem cell markers have been identified, but the lack of unique markers has hampered the definitive identification of intestinal stem cells. This review provides an overview of the current status of knowledge about markers, niche, isolation and cultivation of the intestinal stem cells.
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