In histology, an intestinal crypt (also crypt of Lieberkühn and intestinal gland) is a gland found in the epithelial lining of the small intestine and colon. The crypts and intestinal villi are covered by epithelium which contains two types of cells, goblet cells (secreting mucus) and enterocytes (secreting water and electrolytes).
The enterocytes in the mucosa contain digestive enzymes that digest specific food while they are being absorbed through the epithelium. These enzymes include peptidases, sucrase, maltase, lactase and intestinal lipase. This is in contrast to the stomach where chief cells secrete pepsinogen, in the intestine the aforementioned digestive enzymes are not secreted by the cells of the intestine.
Also, new epithelium is formed here, which is important because the cells at this site are continuously worn away by the passing food. The basal (further from the intestinal lumen) portion of the crypt contains multipotent stem cells. During each mitosis, one of the two daughter cells remains in the crypt as a stem cell, while the other differentiates and migrates up the side of the crypt and eventually into the villus. Goblet cells are among the cells produced in this fashion. Many genes have been shown to be important for the differentiation of intestinal stem cells.
Loss of proliferation control in the crypts is thought to lead to colorectal cancer.
Read more about Intestinal Gland: Pathologic Changes, Eponym
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