Number and ultrastructure of epithelial cells in crypts and villi along the XXXX - @entity6 small intestine: a quantitative study on the effects of insulin and @entity3650 reductase inhibition.

@entity6 @entity3839 @entity5120 @entity3650 @entity35
This study has quantified the effects of insulin treatment with and without @entity3650 reductase inhibitor (ponalrestat) on intestinal epithelial cell morphology in @entity3839 - @entity6 @entity35 . Epithelial volumes, villous and microvillous surface areas and mean volumes of cells (and their nuclei) in crypts and villi were estimated in each of four segments and in the entire intestine. We derived total numbers of cells, quantified the ultrastructural features of average cells and explored variation along the intestine and between experimental groups. In crypts, insulin and ponalrestat had significant effects on cell number (reduced towards normal values) and size (volume and apex area increased beyond normal values). There were interaction effects between insulin and ponalrestat for cell volume and apex area (insulin producing more exaggerated effects when given without @entity5120 ). On villi, insulin and ponalrestat returned cell numbers towards normal values but neither treatment normalised cell size or the number and area of microvilli per cell. Indeed, ponalrestat increased microvillous number and area beyond values found in untreated @entity6 animals. Again, there were interaction effects between insulin and ponalrestat. Patterns of segmental variation seen in crypts of normal @entity35 (values tending to be higher in proximal or mid-intestinal regions) were not preserved, and only some of the segmental differences seen on villi (higher values at proximal or mid-intestinal sites) were maintained during therapy. Apart from reducing the abnormally high numbers of cells in untreated @entity6 @entity35 , these results show that insulin and ponalrestat treatment fail to restitute epithelial cell morphology in the small intestines of experimental @entity6 @entity35 .
