2019 journal article

Preservation of reserve intestinal epithelial stem cells following severe ischemic injury

American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 316(4), G482–G494.

By: L. Gonzalez n, A. Stewart n, J. Freund n, C. Kucera n, C. Dekaney n, S. Magness n, A. Blikslager n

author keywords: intestine; ischemia reperfusion injury; large animal model; reserve stem cells; stem cell
MeSH headings : Animals; Apoptosis; Cell Proliferation / physiology; Cell Self Renewal / physiology; Cell Survival / physiology; Disease Models, Animal; Homeodomain Proteins / metabolism; Intestinal Mucosa / blood supply; Intestinal Mucosa / metabolism; Intestinal Mucosa / pathology; Ischemia / metabolism; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / metabolism; Reperfusion Injury / metabolism; Swine
TL;DR: Data indicate that Hopx+ cells are resistant to injury and are the likely source of epithelial renewal following prolonged ischemic injury, and it is therefore possible that targeting reserve stem cells will lead to new therapies for patients with severe intestinal injury. (via Semantic Scholar)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
3. Good Health and Well-being (Web of Science; OpenAlex)
Source: ORCID
Added: March 16, 2019

Intestinal ischemia is an abdominal emergency with a mortality rate >50%, leading to epithelial barrier loss and subsequent sepsis. Epithelial renewal and repair after injury depend on intestinal epithelial stem cells (ISC) that reside within the crypts of Lieberkühn. Two ISC populations critical to epithelial repair have been described: 1) active ISC (aISC; highly proliferative; leucine-rich-repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 positive, sex determining region Y-box 9 positive) and 2) reserve ISC [rISC; less proliferative; homeodomain only protein X (Hopx)+]. Yorkshire crossbred pigs (8–10 wk old) were subjected to 1–4 h of ischemia and 1 h of reperfusion or recovery by reversible mesenteric vascular occlusion. This study was designed to evaluate whether ISC-expressing biomarkers of aISCs or rISCs show differential resistance to ischemic injury and different contributions to the subsequent repair and regenerative responses. Our data demonstrate that, following 3–4 h ischemic injury, aISC undergo apoptosis, whereas rISC are preserved. Furthermore, these rISC are retained ex vivo in spheroids in which cell populations are enriched in the rISC biomarker Hopx. These cells appear to go on to provide a proliferative pool of cells during the recovery period. Taken together, these data indicate that Hopx+ cells are resistant to injury and are the likely source of epithelial renewal following prolonged ischemic injury. It is therefore possible that targeting reserve stem cells will lead to new therapies for patients with severe intestinal injury.