Mucus barrier characteristics
| Appendix | Cecum | Sigmoid | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Catarrhal | Suppurative | Controls | SLC | UC | Controls | SLC | UC | ||
| *Marks rows with differences that are significant (p<0.001), including a comparison of single groups. | ||||||||||
| †The significant differences were not calculated for 0 value of the controls. The differences between groups with positive values within the row were not significant. | ||||||||||
| ‡p<0.042. | ||||||||||
| §p<0.003. | ||||||||||
| ¶p<0.02. | ||||||||||
| **The bacterial invasion of mucosal tissues in the biopsies was difficult to distinguish from biases caused by mechanical handling of the biopsy. High concentrations of bacteria within mucus of patients with ulcerative colitis and SLC could have been pressed into the tissues. Therefore, no evaluation was attempted in regions showing epithelial defects. No infiltration was observed in areas adjacent to basal membrane below the intact epithelial layer. | ||||||||||
| Appendectomy | A | 11 | 21 | 25 | ||||||
| Colonoscopy | C | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | |||
| Sigmoidoscopy | S | 10 | 10 | 10 | ||||||
| Number of patients with mucus depletion | A | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||||||
| C | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| S | 0 | 4 | ||||||||
| Mucus thickness | A | 131 (51) | 26 (29) | 7 (10)* | ||||||
| C | 83 (49) | 54 (71) | 22 (21)‡ | 70 (46) | 42 (35) | 31 (39)NS | ||||
| S | 56 (21) | 36 (17) | 27 (33)NS | |||||||
| Percent of the epithelium covered with mucus | A | 87 (14) | 53 (23) | 6 (9)* | ||||||
| C | 58 (24) | 30 (26) | 16 (22)§ | 57 (26) | 31 (30) | 22 (25)¶ | ||||
| S | 49 (20) | 34 (24) | 17 (22)¶ | |||||||
| Number (%) of patients with bacteria and leucocytes within mucus | A | 2 (18) | 21 (100) | 13 (100) | ||||||
| C | 2 (20) | 10 (100) | 6 (100) | 1 (10) | 9 (100) | 7 (100) | ||||
| S | 3 (30) | 10 (100) | 6 (100) | |||||||
| Percentage of the mucus containing bacteria | A | 5–7 | 53 (37) | 94 (14)* | ||||||
| C | 5.3 (7) | 58 (24) | 53 (27) | 5 (3.3) | 41 (26) | 40 (30)* | ||||
| S | 1.2 (1) | 63 (36) | 51 (26) | |||||||
| Percentage of the mucus containing leucocytes | A | <0.5 | 10 (15) | 78 (25) | ||||||
| C | 0 | 7 (6) | 13 (6) | 0 | 3 (3) | 5 (3) | ||||
| S | 0 | 7 (5) | 9 (7) | |||||||
| Mean concentrations of faecal bacteria ×1010/ml (SD) | A | 45 (17) | 8.1 (7.3) | 0.7 (1.5)* | ||||||
| Mean concentrations of bacteria within mucus ×1010/ml (SD) | A | <0.005 | 4.8 (5) | 0.6 (1.2)* | ||||||
| C | 0.03 (0.1) | 0.8 (1.1) | 0.1 (0.3) | 0.01 (0.03) | 1.1 (0.7) | 0.3 (0.5)* | ||||
| S | 0.01 (0.02) | 1.2 (0.9) | 0.2 (0.5) | |||||||
| Number of patients with bacteria adherent to the epithelial surface | A | 0 | 14 | 18† | ||||||
| C | 1 | 4 | 6† | 1 | 6 | 8† | ||||
| S | 0 | 6 | 8 | |||||||
| Percentage of the epithelium covered with adherent bacteria | A | 0 | 15 (21) | 47 (41*) | ||||||
| C | 8 (3) | 21 (16) | 52 (31) | 4 (4) | 26 (17) | 45 (34)* | ||||
| S | 1 (0.6) | 40 (30) | 44 (38) | |||||||
| Number of patients with focal defects of the epithelial layer including | A | 0 | 21 | 25† | ||||||
| C | 0 | 6 | 6† | 0 | 4 | 7† | ||||
| S | 0 | 5 | 6 | |||||||
| Single epithelial cells invaded by bacteria | A | 0 | 13 | 5 | ||||||
| C | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| S | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||
| Patchy/aphthoid defects denuding submuosa | A | 0 | 10 | 15 | ||||||
| C | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| S | 0 | 2 | 4 | |||||||
| Spread epithelial surface damage/epithelial loss | A | 0 | 0 | 15 | ||||||
| C | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0** | ||||
| S | 0 | 0 | 0** | |||||||
| Percentage of the intestinal lumen filled with leucocytes | A | 7 (3) | 64 (32) | 75 (32) | ||||||
| C | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| S | ||||||||||
| Number of patients with leucocytes attached to the mucosa | A | 0 | 6 | 25* | ||||||
| C | 0 | 5 | 5† | 0 | 2 | 6† | ||||
| S | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Percentage of the epithelial surface covered with attached leucocytes | A | <1 | 30 (24) | 72 (40)* | ||||||
| C | 0 | 2 (2) | 14 (9)† | 0 | 5–7 | 11 (3)† | ||||
| S | 5 (3) | 2 (1) | ||||||||
| Number of patients with bacteria invading submucosa including: | A | 0 | 7 | 25* | ||||||
| C | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4† | ||||
| S | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Fissure | A | 0 | 4 | 11 | ||||||
| C | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| S | 0 | 1 | 3 | |||||||
| Diffuse infiltration of the mucosa | A | 6 | 19 | |||||||
| C | 0 | ** | ** | 0 | ** | ** | ||||
| S | 0 | ** | ** | |||||||
| Microabscess | A | 1 | 9 | |||||||
| C | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||
| S | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Percentage of tissue surface with bacterial invasion | A | 0 | 5 (6) | 31 (37)* | ||||||
| C | 0 | ** | ** | 0 | ** | ** | ||||
| S | 0 | ** | ** | |||||||