Peptide-containing nerve fibres in the gut wall in Crohn's disease.

Abstract

SUMMARY Neurones containing VIP, substance P, or enkephalin were studied by immunocytochemistry in intestinal specimens from 27 patients with Crohn's disease. Also several endocrine cell systems in the gut were examined. The results were compared with those from a control group of 26 patients. The relative frequency of various endocrine cells did not differ overtly from that in controls. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide and substance P nerve fibres were distributed in all layers of the gut wall, including the submucosal and myenteric plexuses, whereas enkephalin fibres were. restricted to the smooth muscle layer and the myenteric plexus. The distribution and frequency of the peptide-containing nerve fibres were the same in Crohn's disease patients as in control patients. A proportion of these nerve fibres, however, were notably coarse in the Crohn's disease patients. This was particularly apparent in the afflicted parts of the intestine although it was noted also in non-afflicted parts. The concentration of VIP and substance P (expressed as pmol/g wet weight) did not, however, exceed that of the control group.

Changes in vasoactive intestinal peptide, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide and neuropeptide Y-ergic structures of the enteric nervous system in the carcinoma of the human large intestine.

“…there is an increase in the density of nerve elements containing VIP in the wall of the small and the large intestine [11,13]. On the other hand, observations related to the same disease suggest that there are no similar changes in the density of nerve elements containing VIP in the layers of the intestinal wall [29]. Results of other studies on Crohn's disease are completely different.…”

Colonic endocrine cells in inflammatory bowel disease

“…The increase in argyrophil and chromogranin-immunoreactive cells might reflect the increase in serotonin-immunoreactive cells found in patients with UC and in serotonin-and enteroglucagon-immunoreactive cells in patients with CD. It has been reported previously [13] that no difference was found between patients with CD and controls concerning the number of colonic enterochromaffin, enteroglucagon and somatostatin cells. In the present study, however, both serotoninand enteroglucagon-immunoreactive cell areas were increased compared with the controls.…”

“…It has been reported that the intestine of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and in those with Crohn's disease (CD) exhibits an abnormal immune response [7], motility disturbances [8] and increased permeability [9,10]. In order to find a possible aetiological factor and to increase our understanding of the pathophysiological processes involved in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the neuroendocrine regulatory system has been the subject of several studies [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Apart from a morphometric study on the serotonin-, enteroglucagon-and somatostatin-containing cells in patients with CD [13], these investigations have concentrated on the peptidergic nerve fibres.…”

Consequences of intestinal inflammation on the enteric nervous system: Neuronal activation induced by inflammatory mediators

“…Later studies have not been able to confirm these findings. In one study, VIP immunoreactive nerves were found to be coarser in Crohn's disease compared with controls, but the levels of VIP were not elevated in the ileum and were significantly reduced in the colon (Sjolund et al, 1983). In other studies, VIP immunoreactive nerves were reduced in the colon in Crohn's disease (Kubota et al, 1992;Mazumdar and Das, 1992) and ulcerative colitis, (Kubota et al, 1992) as was the content of VIP measured by radioimmunoassay (Koch et al, 1987).…”