Immunoglobulin-containing cells in the small intestine during acute enteritis

Abstract

SUMMARY Jejunal mucosal biopsies were obtained from 13 patients with acute enteritis. Ten patients were examined again after recovery. Quantitative analysis of the findings in immunofluorescence microscopy showed a significant increase of IgA-and IgM-containing cells during acute enteritis. After recovery the number of immunoglobulin-containing cells and their distribution within the different immunoglobulin classes were within normal limits.The lamina propria of the gastrointestinal tract is richly endowed with immunoglobulin-containing cells. These are considered to participate in local immune defence and to produce the major part of the immunoglobulins found in external secretion.To assess the influence of naturally occurring antigen stimulation on the immunoglobulin-containing cells of the human intestine the following study was carried out. Jejunal biopsies from patients with acute enteritis were obtained during the acute period and afterrecovery and the number of immunoglobulin-containing cells and theirdistribution on the different immunoglobulin classes were quantitated. MaterialThirteen patients, who were aged 17 to 70 years (median 39 years), with acute enteritis, all had fever and at least 15 watery, malodorous bowel movements a day without blood contamination. The diarrhoea persisted for five to 22 days (median eight days) and was the primary cause of hospital admission. In four cases salmonellae were cultured from the stools but in the remaining cases repeated bacteriological examinations were negative. All the patients were living in Denmark but eight had encountered the disease during tourist travel in southern Europe. None had previously had gastrointestinal complaints. except two who had had the gallbladder removed some years before because of gallstones. All patients 'Requests for reprints should be addressed to: J.

Immunohistochemical Study of Intestinal Biopsies from Children with Atopic Eczema due to Food Allergy

“…There were increases in the numbers of IgM-and IgA-containing cells; however, these increases were less marked than in the malabsorption syndrome with cow's milk protein intolerance. Similar increases in numbers of immunoglobulineontaining cells have been reported in coeliac disease (13) and, for example, in viral gastroenteritis (17), and such increases are thus a common response to various antigens. According to this study, immune r-eactions involving increases in these cells are a common feature in food allergy presenting as eczema; in contrast to the malabsorption syndrome with cow's milk pr-otein intolerance and coeliac disease with similar incr-eases, most patients in this study have normal morphology of the intestine.…”

Morphological methods in the study of the gut immune system in man.

“…These include the infections (S0ltoft and Seberg, 1972;Davidson et al, 1975), pernicious anaemia (Odgers and Wangel, 1968), chronic gastritis unassociated with pernicious anaemia, coeliac disease (Douglas et al, 1970), tropical and temperate sprue (Swanson and Thomassen, 1965;Drummond and Montgomery, 1970), ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (Skinner and Whitehead, 1974), and alpha chain disease (Manousos et al, 1974). There is sufficient evidence from these studies that further investigation using the more elaborate and accurate methods outlined-above will yield much more valuable data.…”

Immunological Studies of the Jejunal Mucosa in Normal Subjects and Adult Celiac Patients

“…This finding seems to be by far the most important immunological characteristic of the small intestine in celiac disease. It is a particularly important observation in view of the fact that in no other disease (acute enteritis [22], cirrhosis of the liver with diarrhoea [5], Whipple's disease [7], viral hepatitis [23]) has an isolated increase in the IgM cell concentration in the jejunum ever been demonstrated. Furthermore, an IgM cell increase has not been found in other diseases with an immunological etiology (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis [21]).…”

“…It is known that the immunoglobulins are mostly found in the lymphocytes and plasma cells of the jejunal mucosa and it has been demonstrated that the number of cells containing the different types of immunoglobulins can vary under different pathophysiological conditions [2,3,5,7,16,[21][22][23][24], But no correlation has yet been demonstrated between the immunoglobulin content of the jejunal mucosa and the immunoglobulin in the intestinal secretion and in the blood [1,[11][12][13]20], In this context the work of Soltoft and Weeke [24], Douglas et al [7], and Pettingale [16] in adult celiac patients is particularly important.…”