Light and electron microscope examination of gastro‐intestinal epithelia in the adult mouse revealed the widespread presence of a cell type characterized by deep surface invaginations or “caveolae” and, accordingly, called “caveolated cell.”

The caveolated cells are scattered within the epithelia of stomach, small and large intestine; they have a narrow apex bordering the lumen and a wide base in contact with the basement membrane. In the light microscope, they display microvilli longer than in nearby cells; the cytoplasm is usually pale and contains an apical group of parallel fibrils, next to which are minute light spaces which may correspond to the caveolae. In the electron microscope, each fibril is found to be composed of a bundle of straight filaments, extending from the core of a microvillus down into the deeper portion of the supranuclear region; microtubules are often associated with these filaments. Filaments of a different type are arranged in bundles which go from desmosome to desmosome around the apical region of the cell. The caveolae are long and tortuous channels opening at the cell surface between the microvilli and extending deep into the cytoplasm. From the walls of caveolae, polyp‐like structures project into the lumen. The heads of the polyps are believed to be released into this lumen where they appear as small spheres. These in turn may come out of the caveolae to appear between and next to the microvilli.

Caveolated cells are not numerous, e.g., they make up less than 1% of the epithelial cells in the crypts of descending colon. They may be found in the intestinal crypts among poorly differentiated cells, and at the surface of stomach and intestine among fully differentiated cells. They appear to undergo renewal, but since they have not been seen in mitosis, they probably arise from the differentiation of some other epithelial cells.