Homeostatic maintenance of epithelia requires the renewal and replacement of old or dying cells while sustaining a functional barrier. Imbalance between cell production and elimination are hypothesized to underlie many pathological conditions. However, our knowledge of cell turnover within living tissues remains largely restricted to static images due to the limited ability to study epithelia in their native context. Here we report that clearance of damaged basal stem cells promotes compensatory proliferation of neighboring stem cells to maintain overall population numbers in a bilayered epithelium. Time-lapse imaging and electron microscopy experiments reveal that dying cells are rapidly cleared as nearby basal cells engulf apoptotic debris. Remaining basal cells subsequently divide to replace lost cells, allowing for conservation of tissue integrity and function. Together, our data demonstrate the ability to study and visualize the dynamics of epithelial stem cell turnover during tissue homeostasis with in vivo time-lapse imaging. This approach has the ability to rapidly reveal novel mechanisms regulating epithelial tissue homeostasis and will further our understanding of how these processes become altered in disease.
","abstract_html":"<p>Homeostatic maintenance of epithelia requires the renewal and replacement of old or dying cells while sustaining a functional barrier. Imbalance between cell production and elimination are hypothesized to underlie many pathological conditions. However, our knowledge of cell turnover within living tissues remains largely restricted to static images due to the limited ability to study epithelia in their native context. Here we report that clearance of damaged basal stem cells promotes compensatory proliferation of neighboring stem cells to maintain overall population numbers in a bilayered epithelium. Time-lapse imaging and electron microscopy experiments reveal that dying cells are rapidly cleared as nearby basal cells engulf apoptotic debris. Remaining basal cells subsequently divide to replace lost cells, allowing for conservation of tissue integrity and function. Together, our data demonstrate the ability to study and visualize the dynamics of epithelial stem cell turnover during tissue homeostasis with <em>in vivo</em> time-lapse imaging. This approach has the ability to rapidly reveal novel mechanisms regulating epithelial tissue homeostasis and will further our understanding of how these processes become altered in disease.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sumner, Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Masters of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis (MS)","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["George T. Eisenhoffer Jr.","Zahid Siddik","Richard Behringer"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:50:16Z","subjects":["cell turnover","homeostasis","epithelia","epithelial bilayer","stem cell","zebrafish","danio rerio","Cancer Biology","Cell Biology","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/652","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["George T. Eisenhoffer Jr.","Zahid Siddik","Richard Behringer"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sumner, Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-04-10T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (MS)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Masters of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["cell turnover","homeostasis","epithelia","epithelial bilayer","stem cell","zebrafish","danio rerio","Cancer Biology","Cell Biology","Medicine and Health Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/652"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Homeostatic maintenance of epithelia requires the renewal and replacement of old or dying cells while sustaining a functional barrier. Imbalance between cell production and elimination are hypothesized to underlie many pathological conditions. However, our knowledge of cell turnover within living tissues remains largely restricted to static images due to the limited ability to study epithelia in their native context. Here we report that clearance of damaged basal stem cells promotes compensatory proliferation of neighboring stem cells to maintain overall population numbers in a bilayered epithelium. Time-lapse imaging and electron microscopy experiments reveal that dying cells are rapidly cleared as nearby basal cells engulf apoptotic debris. Remaining basal cells subsequently divide to replace lost cells, allowing for conservation of tissue integrity and function. Together, our data demonstrate the ability to study and visualize the dynamics of epithelial stem cell turnover during tissue homeostasis with in vivo time-lapse imaging. This approach has the ability to rapidly reveal novel mechanisms regulating epithelial tissue homeostasis and will further our understanding of how these processes become altered in disease.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Characterization of Stem Cell Turnover In A Living Epithelial Bilayer"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["George T. Eisenhoffer Jr.","Zahid Siddik","Richard Behringer"],"dc:creator":["Sumner, Elizabeth"],"dc:date.available":["2016-04-10T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Homeostatic maintenance of epithelia requires the renewal and replacement of old or dying cells while sustaining a functional barrier. Imbalance between cell production and elimination are hypothesized to underlie many pathological conditions. However, our knowledge of cell turnover within living tissues remains largely restricted to static images due to the limited ability to study epithelia in their native context. Here we report that clearance of damaged basal stem cells promotes compensatory proliferation of neighboring stem cells to maintain overall population numbers in a bilayered epithelium. Time-lapse imaging and electron microscopy experiments reveal that dying cells are rapidly cleared as nearby basal cells engulf apoptotic debris. Remaining basal cells subsequently divide to replace lost cells, allowing for conservation of tissue integrity and function. Together, our data demonstrate the ability to study and visualize the dynamics of epithelial stem cell turnover during tissue homeostasis with in vivo time-lapse imaging. This approach has the ability to rapidly reveal novel mechanisms regulating epithelial tissue homeostasis and will further our understanding of how these processes become altered in disease.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/652"],"dc:subject":["cell turnover","homeostasis","epithelia","epithelial bilayer","stem cell","zebrafish","danio rerio","Cancer Biology","Cell Biology","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"dc:title":["Characterization of Stem Cell Turnover In A Living Epithelial Bilayer"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (MS)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Masters of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:50:16Z"}