JOURNAL OF SHANDONG UNIVERSITY (HEALTH SCIENCES) ›› 2015, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (12): 62-66,80.doi: 10.6040/j.issn.1671-7554.0.2015.148

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Mucus fills the intestinal epithelial gaps and maintains the barrier function

ZHOU Xiaoyan, LI Ming, GUO Jing, ZUO Xiuli, LI Yanqing   

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
  • Received:2015-02-04 Online:2015-12-10 Published:2015-12-10

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Abstract: Objective To investigate whether mucus fills the intestinal epithelial gaps(IEG), and to explore the role of mucus in maintaining local barrier function. Methods The terminal ileum tissues of ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and controls were obtained. Mucins were stained with Alcian Blue-Periodic Acid Schiff (AB-PAS) and Muc2. In addition, we also analyzed the confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) imagines of the terminal ileum from 39 UC patients and 34 controls since January 2013 to December 2014. Revised Watson grading system was used to evaluate the local barrier function. Results In UC patients, the proportion[M(P25,P75),%] of IEG without mucus, intestinal epithelial gaps, goblet cells were 27.52(25.00,29.68), 5.33(3.48,6.62) and 17.38(16.00,19.87), respectively. In control group, these three parameters were 12.27(9.78,16.67), 0.27(0.00,0.69) and 23.44(20.24,26.18), respectively. The differences were statistically significant in the two groups (P<0.01). The proportion of intestinal epithelial gaps and goblet cells showed a significantly negative correlation(r=-0.74, P<0.01). Conclusion The local barrier function is lost in UC patients; mucus filled with IEG play a key role to maintain the local intestinal barrier function.

Key words: Intestinal barrier function, Confocal laser endomicroscopy, Intestinal epithelial gaps, Mucus, Goblet cells

CLC Number: 

  • R574
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