Intestinal plasticity is the ability of an animal’s intestines to have various sizes and functions. Digestive tracts take a lot of energy to maintain, which makes intestinal plasticity necessary for sit-and-wait predators. Sit-and-wait predators don’t require a lot of energy, since they sit motionless, hiding, while waiting to ambush their prey. Their lack of energy requirements allows them to eat very infrequently. This means that they have to find ways to conserve energy in between meals, one of which is through intestinal plasticity. Predators, like the Burmese python, are able to quickly, and efficiently, increase their stomach capacity, and function. This allows them to adapt, on demand, when they find prey to ambush. Once their meal is digested, they are able to decrease their stomach capacity, and function, to conserve their energy between meals.

Most vertebrates have a very narrow range that their calcium and phosphorus levels can be in, to function properly. This makes hormones like parathyroid hormone and calcitonin, the former especially, extremely important to maintain proper calcium and phosphorus levels. The parathyroid glands release parathyroid hormone that increases the calcium and phosphates in the blood stream, through several methods. One of which is osteoclasts, which are a specific type of bone cell that break down bone to release calcium. Another method is through the kidneys, which both reabsorb calcium and produce vitamin D. The vitamin D, then, increases phosphate and calcium absorption in the intestines. Calcitonin, secreted by the thyroid gland, plays a lesser, but still significant role. It decreases the calcium and phosphorus levels by inhibiting the osteoclasts, and therefore, the release of calcium and phosphates, as well as increasing the kidneys’ calcium excretion.

Electron microscopy and Energy-Dispersive X-ray work hand-in-hand to help determine the elemental composition of biological samples. EM uses an electron beam to illuminate the biological sample and give a detailed picture of the sample, which can be the inside or the outside of the cell, depending on if it’s Scanning Electron Microscopy or Transmission Electron Microscopy. The EDX analysis is, then, done using the electron beam from the EM. The electron beam causes the biological sample to emit high energy x-rays, which have different energy levels specific to each element. Elemental mapping is, then, used to create a detailed computer image of where specific elements are in the biological structure. The elements that make up cells are the building blocks of our biology. Knowing what they are, and how they work, is important to the continuing research into cells.

A study was done on Burmese pythons to see how they handle the high amounts of calcium and phosphorus, which come from their diets. Burmese pythons, along with many other types of snakes, ingest their entire prey, including the bones. This means they ingest very high levels of calcium and phosphorus, and they have to keep those levels within certain numbers to function properly. These levels are managed by a special type of cell in their intestines, which produces the calcium and phosphorus particles(Bucking et al, 2025). These particles are produced depending on the levels from their diet, stored in the cell’s crypts, and will eventually be excreted through the feces.

They did this study with four groups of snakes, including snakes fasting, snakes fed normal diets, snakes fed boneless diets, and snakes fed calcium-rich diets. The fasting snakes showed empty crypts and atrophied microvilli, used for absorption and secretion, since they weren’t ingesting any calcium or phosphorus from bones (Bucking et al, 2025). The snakes fed normal diets had elongated microvilli, along with crypts full of particles rich in calcium, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur (Bucking et al, 2025). The snakes fed boneless diets didn’t produce the particles rich in calcium and phosphorus, but they did produce some iron rich elements (Bucking et al, 2025). Snakes fed boneless diets, with the addition of calcium, had particles found in the crypts of the specialized cell(Bucking et al, 2025). These particles contained phosphorus, iron, calcium, and low amounts of sulfur.

The particles that are formed in the cell can be made up of many different elements. The particle has multiple different layers, and the elements it contains depends on what the snake is ingesting. The particle is mostly made of calcium, phosphorus, and iron, but it can also contain oxygen and sulfur (Bucking et al, 2025). This particle is found in the cell’s crypts and forms after the Burmese python has eaten.

Snakes have to maintain certain levels of calcium in their blood stream in order to maintain their health and function properly. They do this using parathyroid hormone and calcitonin. Parathyroid hormone is used to raise blood calcium levels, while calcitonin is used to lower blood calcium levels (Bucking et al, 2025). When a Burmese python is fasting, or has a low calcium diet, then it will have increased levels of PTH to make up for the calcium that it needs. Oppositely, when it has a high calcium diet, it has increased levels of calcitonin to lower the calcium level. Snakes fed normal diets tend to have similar levels of PTH and calcitonin, since their diets aren’t lacking or exceeding the required amount of calcium.

Yes, I believe the authors made a made a compelling case that the intestinal crypt cells are a new type of cell. Their initial hypothesis that the particles were pieces of undigested bone was disproven. They used TEM ESEM and light microscopy to observe the Burmese python’s intestines, including these new cells. The images they showed of the cell included basic cell characteristics and properties, further supporting their claim. This article ties in with our cell biology class because we are always looking at different cell types, what they contain, their purpose, etc. This shows us a new type of cell, while giving characteristics and a main purpose. Although the cell has been researched, further research could reveal much more information.