• By

    Dana Sparks

    Science Saturday: Colon flowers

lice of normal colon tissue, cross sections through structures called crypts of Lieberkühn look like flowers

In this slice of normal colon tissue, cross sections through structures called crypts of Lieberkühn look like flowers where the mucin produced by goblet cells appears as white “petals.” At the center of each flower is a small lumen (space within a tube) that is contiguous with the larger lumen of the colon through which feces pass. The mucin produced by the goblet cells aids in the passage of feces through the colon. Read more about colon cancer and the microbiome and fecal incontinence on Discovery’s Edge.
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