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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Oct 4.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Metab. 2017 May 2;25(5):993–994. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.04.019

Figure 1. Metabolic regulation of intestinal stem cell niche homeostasis.

Figure 1

Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and niche Paneth cells (dotted box) reside in the bases of the crypts of Lieberkühn. ISCs differentiate to form all intestinal cell types. Paneth cells support ISC function by producing growth factors. Rodríguez-Colman et al. examined the metabolic activities of ISCs and Paneth cells. The authors used in vitro models of crypt differentiation and ISC function to identify distinct, yet complementary, metabolic programs in these cells. Paneth cells undergo glycolysis to produce lactate. Lactate is then back converted into pyruvate to fuel mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in ISCs. This process generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) that in turn activate p38 MAP kinase signaling. Together, these processes promote intestinal crypt differentiation.