title: Cellular plasticity in the adult liver and stomach.
abstract: Adult tissues maintain function and architecture through robust homeostatic mechanisms mediated by self-renewing cells capable of generating all resident cell types. However, severe injury can challenge the regeneration potential of such a stem/progenitor compartment. Indeed, upon injury adult tissues can exhibit massive cellular plasticity in order to achieve proper tissue regeneration, circumventing an impaired stem/progenitor compartment. Several examples of such plasticity have been reported in both rapidly and slowly self-renewing organs and follow conserved mechanisms. Upon loss of the cellular compartment responsible for maintaining homeostasis, quiescent or slowly proliferating stem/progenitor cells can acquire high proliferation potential and turn into active stem cells, or, alternatively, mature cells can de-differentiate into stem-like cells or re-enter the cell cycle to compensate for the tissue loss. This extensive cellular plasticity acts as a key mechanism to respond to multiple stimuli in a context-dependent manner, enabling tissue regeneration in a robust fashion. In this review cellular plasticity in the adult liver and stomach will be examined, highlighting the diverse cell populations capable of repairing the damaged tissue.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK - Gurdon Institute, Henry Wellcome Building of Cancer and Developmental Biology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QN, UK.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aloia
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK - Gurdon Institute, Henry Wellcome Building of Cancer and Developmental Biology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QN, UK.|Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3DY, UK.
authors.forename: Mikel Alexander
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: McKie
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK - Gurdon Institute, Henry Wellcome Building of Cancer and Developmental Biology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QN, UK.|Wellcome Trust - Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Gleeson Building, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QR, UK.|Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3DY, UK.
authors.forename: Meritxell
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1545-5265
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000066670:Cell Plasticity; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D012038:Regeneration; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D013270:Stomach / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology