Compositional changes in fecal microbiota associated with clinical phenotypes and prognosis in Korean patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Background/Aims@#The fecal microbiota of Korean patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was investigated with respect to disease phenotypes and taxonomic biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of IBD. @*Methods@#Fecal samples from 70 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, 39 Crohn’s disease (CD) patients, and 100 healthy control individuals (HC) were collected. The fecal samples were amplified via polymerase chain reaction and sequenced using Illumina MiSeq. The relationships between fecal bacteria and clinical phenotypes were analyzed using the EzBioCloud database and 16S microbiome pipeline. @*Results@#The alpha-diversity of fecal bacteria was significantly lower in UC and CD (P<0.05) compared to that in HC. Bacterial community compositions in UC and CD were significantly different from that of HC according to Bray-Curtis dissimilarities, and there was also a difference between community composition in UC and CD (P=0.01). In UC, alpha-diversity was further decreased when the disease was more severe and the extent of disease was greater, and community composition significantly differed depending on the extent of the disease. We identified 9 biomarkers of severity and 6 biomarkers of the extent of UC. We also identified 5 biomarkers of active disease and 3 biomarkers of ileocolonic involvement in CD. Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcus gnavus were biomarkers for better prognosis in CD. @*Conclusions@#The fecal microbiota profiles of IBD patients were different from those of HC, and several bacterial taxa may be used as biomarkers to determine disease phenotypes and prognosis. These data may also help discover new therapeutic targets for IBD.

The Study of the Changes of Myocardial Histology and Left Ventricular Function according to the Total Doses of Doxorubicin in Rabbits

PURPOSE: We'd like to evaluate the relationship between the degree of cardiac damage and that of cardiac function according to the total injected dose of doxorubicin. METHODS: 12 rabbits(body weight : 2.0-3.2 kg) were used and 30 mg/m2/week of doxorubicin hydrochloride was injected intravenously. The cardiac function was checked under anesthesia, after which the thorax was opened and cardiac samples were evaluated with light and electron microscopics. RESULTS: Regardless of total injected dose of doxorubicin, there was no difference between the general appearance, sizes and thickness of both atria and ventricles of doxorubicin injected rabbits and those of normal control. The rabbits with total cumulative dose 200 mg/m2, although cardiac function is normal.

Morphological Effect of Chronic Alcohol Drinking upon the Gastric Mucosa of Rats / 대한해부학회지

In order to investigate the effect of chronic alcohol drinking upon the gastric mucosa of rats, Sprague-Dawley rats (200~235 g) had drunken 10% alcohol in stead of water and were maintained on regular feed. They drank about 20cc of 10% alcohol a day. The experimental groups sacrificed in 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks. The gastric mucosa from the gastric body near by the fundus and the gastric body in the vicinity of the pylorus were fixed in neutral formalin, dehydrated in graded ethanol and embedded in paraffin. They were sectioned and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and stained with alcian blue pH 2.5. The results were as follows: 1. Mucosal epithelium of the rat destroyed a little in some place, but the damage was not severe in all the experimental groups. Migrating cells and parietal cells covered the damaged places. 2. In the mucosa of the gastric body near by the fundus, the cells of the gastric gland showed positive reaction with alcian blue pH 2.5 and increased in number at 1 week. The number and reactivity of the cells decreased at 4 and 8 weeks of the experiment. 3. The surface mucous cells of the gastric pits in the body near by the pylorus decreased in number. The mucous neck cells of the gastric gland also decreased in number with time. 4. The cells in the base of the gastric gland showed alcian blue pH 2.5 positive at 4 and 8 weeks of the experiment. 5. The thickness of the gastric mucosa in all the experimental groups decreased in comparison with that of normal gastric mucosa.

Studies on the Paneth Cell of the Mouse Ileum after Administration of Cyclophosphamide / 대한해부학회지

This study was carried out on ICR mice, male, weighing about 26~35 g in order to investigate the effects of cyclophosphamide (CP) on the Paneth cells and their glycoconjugates. They were given intraperitoneally CP (Sigma, USA) 150 mg/kg body weight. Control mice were given as same amount of distilled water. The mice were sacrificed after 12 hours and on day 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 and 14 after CP injection. Sections were prepared from the region upper 1~2 cm from the end of the ilea. The material for histological examination was fixed in 10% buffered formalin. Some of the preparation 4 mm thick from the paraffin blocks stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The average numbers of the cells (Paneth cell index : PCI) were counted in the longitudinally sectioned 20 intestinal glands and semiquantitive granulation indices (Paneth cell granulation index : PGI) were obtained arithmatically weighted method to 3 cell types classified according to the degree of granularity of the cells. The other sections were incubated with 8 species of lectins (GS I B4, PSA, SBA, sWGA, UEA I, ECL, PNA and LFA). In order to increase the specificity of the reactions, the sections were applicated with ABC system. And then the sections were incubated DAB and were counterstained with hematoxylin. The results observed by light microcope were as follows. 1. The Paneth cell index (PCI) was 155.5 in control mice, while the PCI from the mice after 12 hours CP injection was 88.3. The Paneth cell granulation index (PGI) decreased from 316.0 in control mice to 152.3 in 12 hours after the CP administration. 2. The PCI increased to 141 and the PGI was 354 on day 2 after CP administration, which was higher in number than those of the control mice. It was characterized that the Paneth cells packed with numerous eosinophilic granules in the apical region increased in great numbers on day 2. 3. The PCI and PGI decreased on day 4 and day 5, and began to increase on day 9, which recovered to the similar level of the control mice. 4. Apoptotic-like cells increased suddenly in great numbers 12 hours after the CPA injection and began to decrease on day 1. Most of the dying cells seem to come from stem cells of the crypts and a small numbers of them from Paneth cells. 5. Paneth cells exhibited an extensive binding pattern for SBA, sWGA, and showed a restricted binding pattern for GS I B4 and UEA I. PSA, PNA, LFA. ECL showed negative reaction with Paneth cells. 6. It seems that Paneth cells can be classified according to the composition of the glycoconjugate in the granule and the stages of the cell maturation. The glycoconjugates in the halo is thought different from that in the core of the secretory granules. 7. The Paneth cell granules generally showed stronger reaction with the lectins in 12 hours after the CP admini-stration. 8. It is thought that the core of the granules decomposed earlier than the halo of the granules, and the granules of the cells reacted negatively with the lectins secreted earlier than those of the cells showed strong reaction with the lectins after the CP injection.

Fine Structure and Glycoconjugate Complex Pattern of the Rat Vaginal Epithelium during Pregnancy / 대한해부학회지

The present study is designed to study the light and electron microscopic structure of the rat vaginal epithelium during pregnancy. Furthermore, lectin histochemistry is used to know the changes of the terminal sugar of the glycoconjugate in the vaginal epithelium during pregnancy. The 0 day of pregnacy is defined as the day of presence of sperm in a vaginal smear. At 0 day of pregnancy, most of cells are flat in morphology except basal cell. Lightly-stained superficial cells had few cell organelles, and all the other cells had many intermediate filament bundles, microvilli-like processes and desmosomes. During pregnancy, the thickness of the vaginal epithelium was increased. The morphology of the mucous cells are changed from a cuboidal shape to a columnar one. The intermediate filament bundles are decreased in the mucous cell after first week of pregnancy. Lectin histochemistry showed the presence of alpha-L-fucose, alpha-D-galactose, beta(1, 4)-N-acetylglucosamine, alpha-D-N-acetylgalactosamine and galactosyl-beta(1, 4)-N-acetylglucosamine in the mucous cells. The basal cells also contained the same terminal sugars except galactosyl-beta(1, 4)-N-acetylglucosamine. Approaching to the birthday, the thickening of the mucous layer of the vaginal epithelium suggests that the mucous containing several glycoconjugates may play an important role to make the appropriate environment in the vaginal lumen during pregnancy and parturition.