The intestine is responsible for absorbing nutrients while protecting the body from external aggression, a task performed by a complex intestinal barrier. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur demonstrated in a mouse model that a population of tissue-resident cells known as stromal cells is crucial for the development of a functional intestinal barrier in the first few weeks after birth. Absence of these cells induces a defect in postnatal growth and increases susceptibility to intestinal inflammatory diseases. These findings were published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

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