Authors: WenJun Zhang JiaZhong Duan Na Lei Hui Xing Yiming Shao GuiBo Yang
Publish Date: 2012/07/10
Volume: 350, Issue: 1, Pages: 135-141
Abstract
The roles of the interactions between nervous endocrine and immune systems have been well established in human health and diseases At present little is known about the cellular bases for neuralendocrineimmune networks in the gastrointestinal mucosa In the current study duodenum jejunum ileum cecum colon and rectum autopsies from 15 rhesus macaques and endoscopic duodenal biopsies from 12 rhesus macaques were collected and the spatial relationships between the endocrine cells and immune cells in the intestinal mucosa were examined by transmission electron microscopy Eight types of enteroendocrine cells similar to human enterochromaffin cells EC D1 G I K L N and S cells were found to lie within a onecellsize distance from immunocytes in particular the eosinophils in the epithelia or lamina propria Close apposition of large areas of plasma membranes between many types of enteroendocrine cells and immunocytes especially between EC K S cells and eosinophils were observed in the epithelia for the first time These data indicate that complex interactions occur between diverse types of enteroendocrine cells and various immune cells through paracrine mechanisms or via mechanisms dependent on celltocell contact such interactions might play key roles in maintaining the gut mucosal barrier integrity of rhesus macaques
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