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Abstract
<p class="first" id="P1">The intestinal epithelium is a rapidly renewing cellular
compartment. This constant
regeneration is a hallmark of intestinal homeostasis and requires a tightly regulated
balance between intestinal stem cell (ISC) proliferation and differentiation. Since
intestinal epithelial cells directly contact pathogenic environmental factors that
continuously challenge their integrity, ISCs must also actively divide to facilitate
regeneration and repair. Understanding niche adaptations that maintain ISC activity
during homeostatic renewal and injury-induced intestinal regeneration is therefore
a major and ongoing focus for stem cell biology. Here, we review recent concepts and
propose an active interconversion of the ISC niche between homeostasis and injury-adaptive
states that is superimposed upon an equally dynamic equilibrium between active and
reserve ISC populations.
</p>