In the present study an experimental high-altitude intestinal barrier injury rat model was established by simulating an acute hypoxia environment, to provide an experimental basis to assess the pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of altitude sickness. A total of 70 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: Control group (group C) and a high-altitude hypoxia group (group ...

Clostridium difficile is a major cause of antibiotic-associated colitis and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Glutamine (Gln) is a major fuel for the intestinal cell population. Alanyl-glutamine (Ala-Gln) is a dipeptide that is highly soluble and well tolerated. IEC-6 cells were used in the in vitro experiments. Cell morphology was evaluated by atomic force microscopy (AFM...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Amphibian intestinal remodeling, where thyroid hormone (T3) induces some larval epithelial cells to become adult stem cells analogous to the mammalian intestinal ones, serves as a unique model for studying how the adult stem cells are formed. To clarify its molecular mechanisms, we here investigated roles of non-canonical Wnt signaling in the larval-to-adult intestinal remod...

The interaction between the intestinal flora and the immune system is complex, and as yet little understood. The Groningen Reduction of Image Data (GRID) image processing system is a relatively new tool in the investigation of this interaction. The image processing approach allows measurement of morphological and immunological characteristics of faecal bacteria, which have not been cultured, an...

In this study, adult patients were treated with praziquantel to expel intestinal flukes. Unexpectedly, dozens of adult Enterobius vermicularis worms with disfigured morphology, which had not been detected on fecal examination using Kat's modified thick-smear technique, were expelled from 6 of 33 patients.

Chronic dietary administration of prednisolone to the adult rat caused alteration in morphology and enzyme activity of the small intestinal mucosa. Reduction of villous height, crypt depth, and surface epithelial cell height was accompanied by a significant increase in the specific activity of several jejunal peptidases.

Blastocystis is anaerobic, unicellular protozoan resides in intestinal tract of human as well as other hosts. It was considered as fungus before, now it has been classified to a protozoa. The pathogenicity of the organism is still doubtful and is the subject of debate. Hence, in this review, we will discuss classification, morphology, lifecycle, pathogenicity, Clinical features, Diagnosis and t...

© 2012 Khan and Nasimul Islam , licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Morphology of the Intestinal Barrier in Different Physiological and Patholo...