Small Intestinal Cryptogenic Cells in W/W v Mutant Mice

Abstract

Crypt survival curves were obtained for normal and mutant ${\rm W}/{\rm W}^{{\rm v}}$ mice. This latter have stem cell defects in their germ cells, melanocytes, and haematopoietic tissue. The crypt survival curves were similar in shape and slope for normal and ${\rm W}/{\rm W}^{{\rm v}}$ mice suggesting that the number and split-dose recovery of intestinal crypt stem cells are not affected by the mutation in the ${\rm W}/{\rm W}^{{\rm v}}$ mice. This was further confirmed by a split-dose assay designed to estimate the single-cell survival curve shoulder size and hence the cellular multiplicity in the crypt survival curve, i.e., the number of cryptogenic (stem) cells per crypt.