Transport of particles in intestinal mucus under simulated infant and adult physiological conditions: impact of mucus structure and extracellular DNA.

ABSTRACT: The final boundary between digested food and the cells that take up nutrients in the small intestine is a protective layer of mucus. In this work, the microstructural organization and permeability of the intestinal mucus have been determined under conditions simulating those of infant and adult human small intestines. As a model, we used the mucus from the proximal (jejunal) small intestines of piglets and adult pigs. Confocal microscopy of both unfixed and fixed mucosal tissue showed mucus lining the entire jejunal epithelium. The mucus contained DNA from shed epithelial cells at different stages of degradation, with higher amounts of DNA found in the adult pig. The pig mucus comprised a coherent network of mucin and DNA with higher viscosity than the more heterogeneous piglet mucus, whic

SUBMITTER: Macierzanka A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3995753 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature