| Whole body irradiation is a useful challenge to study the response of intestinal epithelial stem cells (IESC) to genetic damage. High dose irradiation causes complete loss of the proliferative zone within intestinal crypts excluding a few stem/multipotent cells that can regenerate the intestinal epithelial lining. Whole body irradiation models using high dose irradiation are not ideal for studying the regenerative process due to poor animal survival. Little is known about direct effects of irradiation on IESC due to lack of biomarkers. This study developed a high dose abdominal irradiation model with increased survival allowing for analysis of regeneration to day 9 after irradiation and potentially longer. The expression pattern of the putative IESC marker, Sox9, was evaluated and compared with proliferation markers. We provide evidence that differential levels of Sox9 mark subpopulations of proliferating cells. This model will be useful to evaluate therapies that increase IESC survival, proliferation and regeneration. |
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