Intestinal mucosal immune barrier dysfunction plays a key role in the pathogenesis of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Rhubarb is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine as a laxative in China. It markedly protects pancreatic acinar cells from trypsin-induced injury in rats. Free total rhubarb anthraquinones (FTRAs) isolated and extracted from rhubarb display the beneficial effects of anti...

Intestinal transplantation has emerged in the last decade as a lifesaving procedure for patients with intestinal failure who are suffering from complications arising from the administration of total parenteral nutrition. Indications for transplantation include irreversible liver injury and loss of vascular access. At least 50 children in the United States may benefit from intestinal transplanta...

OBJECTIVE To review the clinical and experimental methods of detecting intestinal ischaemia and to assess their value in current clinical practice. DATA SOURCES Relevant articles and published reviews on intestinal ischaemia and/or infarction. SUMMARY OF REVIEW The incidence of acute mesenteric ischaemia has increased substantially over the last few decades. Death rates of 70% to 90% have b...

Wnt/β-catenin signaling supports intestinal homeostasis by regulating proliferation in the crypt. Multiple Wnts are expressed in Paneth cells as well as other intestinal epithelial and stromal cells. Ex vivo, Wnts secreted by Paneth cells can support intestinal stem cells when Wnt signaling is enhanced with supplemental R-Spondin 1 (RSPO1). However, in vivo, the source of Wnts in the stem cell ...

Neutrophil-related, oxidant-mediated injury to the pulmonary microvasculature appears to follow endotoxemia, cutaneous thermal injury, and ischemia-reperfusion injury to the liver or intestine. Glutathione is an important endogenous intracellular oxygen radical scavenger. Plasma concentrations of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) reflect oxidant injury resulting from an overdose of certain oxidativel...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize microbial components and trigger the signaling cascade that activates innate and adaptive immunity. Recent studies have shown that the activation of TLR-dependent signaling pathways plays important roles in the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injuries in many organs. All TLRs, except TLR3, use a common adaptor protein, MyD88, to transduce activati...

OBJECTIVES Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury is associated with mucosal damage and has a high rate of mortality. Various beneficial effects of ozone have been shown. The aim of the present study was to show the effects of ozone in ischemia reperfusion model in intestine. MATERIAL AND METHOD Twenty eight Wistar rats were randomized into four groups with seven rats in each group. Control g...

We previously showed that group II phospholipase A2 (PLA2-II), a secretory, bactericidal, and proinflammatory protein in intestinal crypts, is upregulated after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and platelet-activating factor (PAF) challenge. Here we examined whether germ-free environment (GF) or antibiotic treatment (ABX) affects the pathophysiological responses and intestinal PLA2-II activity after PA...

Recently, with the increasing number of elderly patients who continuously take aspirin and/or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the number of cases of severe hemorrhagic gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is also on the increase. Gastric acid has been reported to play the most important role in hemorrhagic gastric mucosal injury. However, the pathogenesis of NSAID-derived mucosal injur...

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating intestinal disease of premature infants. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is one of the most promising candidates in NEC prophylaxis. Autophagy regulates cell homeostasis, but uncontrolled activation of autophagy may lead to cellular injury. The aim was to evaluate the effects of EGF on intestinal autophagy in epithelial cells and in the rat NEC mod...