Morphological Basis for Impaired Protective Efficiency by the Nasal Mucosa in Infants with and without Recurrent Acute Otitis media: A Light and Electron Microscopy Study

Abstract

The structure of the nasal mucosa in biopsy specimens from the inferior turbinate in ‘normal healthy’ infants (n = 27) was compared with that in age-matched infants (n = 59) with increased frequency of recurrent acute otitis media (RAOM). Light and transmission electron microscopic examination revealed that the healthy infants, i.e., the control subjects, had almost as extensive structural changes in their nasal mucosa as those with RAOM. Only 1 infant in each group was considered to have normal nasal mucosa from a morphological point of view. The high frequencies of structural abnormalities in the nasal mucosa in infants, healthy or with RAOM, is likely to be due to frequent infections causing damage so often and to such high extent that the repair processes became insufficient and thus did not restore the structure of the nasal mucosa. Mucosal lining defects may decrease the resistance to infections, resulting in frequent relapses further adding to the mucosal damage, i.e., a self-ongoing circle.

Effects of experimental Mycoplasma pulmonis infection on sensory neuropeptides and airway mucosa in the rat

“…The dense innervation and accumulation of vessels and glands make the tissue very reactive, and extensive epithelial changes may be found even in individuals without clinical signs of disease [30]. Hence, nasal mucosa unmodified by antigenic exposure can only be studied in animals raised under GF conditions.…”