The function of the Hedgehog signaling pathway in the colon

The morphogen Indian Hedgehog plays a very important role during intestinal embryogenesis, but also maintains homeostasis in the adult gut. Intestinal Hedgehog is expressed by the intestinal epithelium and signals in paracrine manner to fibroblasts in the stromal compartment. We studied the colonic changes upon activation of the Hedgehog pathway by deleting the Hedgehog receptor Patched1 in order to alleviate its repressive function.

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