Table 1.
Similarities and differences of chicken small intestinal epithelium compared with mammals.
Cell Types | Similarities | Differences | |
---|---|---|---|
Chicken | Mammal | ||
Enterocytes | Polarized columnar cells along the villus with nutrient absorptive ability [26,27,28] | ||
Paneth cells | Whether presented in the crypts is still controversial; could be distributed along the villus, or in the crypt [29,30] | Acidophilic granulocytes that are located in the crypt and interspersed with stem cells [19,24] | |
Goblet cells | Mucus-secreted cells that are distributed along the villus and in the crypt [31] | ||
Stem cells | Located in the crypt but not interspersed with Paneth cells [22] | Distributed in the crypt with Paneth cells inserted [19,24] | |
Enteroendocrine cells | Minor cell population along the crypt-villus axis, secreting important hormones related to digestibility and feed intake [32] | ||
Proliferation zone | Intensively identified in the crypt, but still detected along the villus [6,20] | Constraint in the crypt |