Whole population cell kinetics of jejunal and colonic epithelium in lactating dams

Abstract

Previous studies make it likely that the response of the intestinal epithelium as a whole to lactation is different from that observed in the crypt population alone. We confirm this difference by whole population cell kinetics measurements of jejunal and colonic epithelium in mice that have been suckling pups for various lengths of time. We found that the fraction of cells in S phase in jejunal epithelium was significantly increased after only 1 week of lactation, maintained this elevated level after 2 weeks of lactation, but returned to normal during the third week of lactation. The cell number density in jejunum was also significantly higher after 2 and 3 weeks of lactation before returning to normal by 4 weeks. In the colonic epithelium no changes were found in the distribution of cells in G1, S, and G2 + M phases. However, a significant increase in cell number density was observed after 2 weeks of lactation, followed by a sharp decrease to a level significantly below that of normal mice after 3 and 4 weeks of lactation. We conclude that the observed significant increase in the fraction of S phase in jejunal epithelium of lactating mice is probably due to a smaller relative expansion of the villus population when compared with the expansion of the crypt population. Our data also indicate that a number of cell kinetic parameters in the intestinal epithelium of lactating mice are changing throughout the period of lactation. Thus the intestinal epithelium is probably not in a steady state during lactation.