Illustration from Scientific Research

Examples of tissues that employ self-replicating mature cells to sustain tissue renewal. In the damaged pancreatic acini, acinar cells can increase self-renewal and induce an accelerated rate of acini fission. Damage to the liver causes the emergence of oval cells from cholangiocytes that can both generate both new cholangiocytes as well as hepatocytes. Chief cells at the bottom of the stomach glands can self-replicate during homeostasis to sustain their pool, but damage endows these cells with expanded lineage potential.

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