Colonic epithelial cell proliferation after 40 percent intestinal resection. Autoradiographic studies in the rat.

Colonic crypt cell population kinetics were investigated by autoradiography with tritiated thymidine in rats 60 days after resection of a jejunal segment equivalent to 40% of the length of the small intestine. Controls were subjected to transection and anastomosis. The mean total number of cells and the mean number of labelled cells per crypt cell column were estimated. The distribution of the proliferative and mature cell zones was obtained by determing the percentage of labelled cells at each cell position in the crypt cell columns. The mean total number of cells, mean number of labelled cells per crypt cell column and sizes of the proliferative and mature cell zones were unchanged (P less than 0.1). It is concluded that 40% small intestine resection does not influence the cell population kinetics of the colonic crypts of Lieberkühn.