[Mucosa dimensions and cell proliferation in intestinal organ cultures with and without inhibition of cholesterol synthesis].

The changes in the structure and proliferative activity of rabbit ileal mucosa have been studied with morphometric and stathmokinetic techniques during 24 h organ culture. Under control conditions the villus base diameter and villus height decreased by 34 and 53%, respectively, whereas the number of villi per mm2 remained constant. The reduction of crypt depth was less pronounced than the loss in villus height, leading to a decrease in the villus height to crypt depth ratio from 3.4 to 2.3. The likely reason for this culture induced hypoplasia was a significant drop in mitotic activity as early as 2 h after starting the culture. Inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase, the key enzyme of cholesterogenesis, lead to a further reduction in mucosal dimensions and a near complete suppression of crypt cell regeneration. These data imply that despite the well-known preservation of differentiated function mucosal cell renewal during organ culture is impaired.