Possible role of intestinal stem cells in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome

Figure 4 The intestinal stem cell divides into 2 identical cells (clonogeny). One of these cells remain inactive, while the other stem cell differentiates into all cell types of the villus epithelium through 2 cell lineages: The secretory lineage giving raise to goblet cells, endocrine cells and Paneth cells, and the absorptive lineage giving raise to absorptive enterocytes. This differentiation occurs through a series of progenitors. The observations that the density of stem cells and progenitors for enteroendocrine cells, led to the assumption of gene mutations affecting the stem cell and neurogenin 3 gene.