Development In addition to the hardwired program of gut development discussed above, it is clear that environmental influences, such as diet (27) and the microbial community of the gut (28), play important roles in the differentiation and function of the gut. For example, in mammals, the changing dietary input in the preand postnatal periods imposes different demands on the intestine and influe...

Zollinger and Ellison (1955) showed that the intestine in patients with islet cell tumour of the pancreas was liable to ulcerate at sites typical and atypical of 'peptic' ulcer. These ulcers have been described histologically after resection as being similar to the commonly seen peptic ulcer but reports as to the state of the mucosa between the ulcers or elsewhere in the intestine are few. We h...

WNT/β-catenin signalling is crucial for intestinal homoeostasis. The intestinal epithelium and stroma are the major source of WNT ligands but their origin and role in intestinal stem cell (ISC) and epithelial repair remains unknown. Macrophages are a major constituent of the intestinal stroma. Here, we analyse the role of macrophage-derived WNT in intestinal repair in mice by inhibiting their r...

One aspect of the continuation of our earlier work on the environment of the acanthocephalan parasite Polymorphus minutus in the intestine of domestic ducks (Crompton & Nesheim, 1970) made it necessary to devise a surgical method for preventing bile from entering the duck's intestine. In outline, the method was to ligate the bile ducts and to cannulate the gall-bladder so that all the bile synt...

Hyperproteic diets are used in human nutrition to obtain body weight reduction. Although increased protein ingestion results in an increased transfer of proteins from the small to the large intestine, there is little information on the consequences of the use of such diets on the composition of large intestine content and on epithelial cell morphology and metabolism. Rats were fed for 15 days w...

In C. elegans and Drosophila, retromer mediated retrograde transport of Wntless (Wls) from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) is required for Wnt secretion. When this retrograde transport pathway is blocked, Wls is missorted to lysosomes and degraded, resulting in reduced Wnt secretion and various Wnt related phenotypes. In the mammalian intestine, Wnt signaling is essential to maintain...

Diarrhea is a leading cause of death among young mammals, especially during weaning. Here, we investigated the effects of Cathelicidin-WA (CWA) on diarrhea, intestinal morphology, inflammatory responses, epithelial barrier and microbiota in the intestine of young mammals during weaning. Piglets with clinical diarrhea were selected and treated with saline (control), CWA or enrofloxacin (Enro) fo...

Two experiments were carried out to study the effects of corticosterone (CORT) administration on intestinal morphology and function of broilers. In both experiments, birds were randomly divided into two equal groups. One group was the control group (CTRL), and the birds were fed with a basal diet. The other was the experimental group (CORT), and the birds were fed with the basal diet plus 30 mg...

Small intestinal mucosa contains both thymus dependent and thymus independent lymphoid cells and thus has the capacity to act via humoral and cellular mechanisms as a site of local immunity and local hypersensitivity. Allograft rejection of mouse small intestine is a model of a local cell mediated reaction. The effects of this clearly defined, immunologically mediated damage villi, crypts, ente...

The pH of the gastrointestinal tract can have profound influences on digestive processes. Rodents exhibit wide variation in both stomach morphology and dietary strategies, both of which may influence gut pH. Various rodent species have evolved bilocular (or semi-segmented) stomachs that may allow for more microbial growth compared to unilocular (single-chambered) stomachs. Additionally, herbivo...