A method for the preparation of large intact sheets of intestinal mucosa: application to the study of mouse aggregation chimeras.

A technique for the preparation of entire intestinal mucosal sheets is described that renders the population of crypts accessible for two-dimensional study. We have applied the technique to demonstrate the mosaic crypt populations in the intestinal epithelium of mouse aggregation chimeras, using the lectin Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA) as a strain-specific histochemical marker.