Summary of morphometric data for intra-epithelial lymphocytes in small intestine

Range Table - link
Organism Human Homo sapiens
Reference Crowe PT, MarshMN(1993) Morphometric analysis of small intestinal mucosa. IV. Determining cell volumes. Virchows Arch A Pathol Anat Histopathol 422: 459–466 p.464 table 4PubMed ID8333150
Method p.460 left column 2nd paragraph:"The subjects consisted of ten disease-control patients (7 male/4 female age range 23-48 years) in whom a jejunal biopsy was performed as part of their diagnostic work-up, but in whom gluten sensitivity was excluded by the presence of a normal biopsy. There were also 11 healthy volunteers (5 male and 6 female all under 30 years of age) recruited from the medical and paramedical staff of this hospital. These 21 control mucosae were compared with jejunal mucosae obtained from 20 patients (8 females, aged 2~58 years and 12 males, aged 25-72 years) with untreated gluten sensitivity." (Abstract:) "Four procedures were employed, of which two were geometrical, based on cylindrical or truncated conoid models. The third method evolved from the proportionality of area to volume, and required determination of cellular and nuclear profile areas, and an estimation of nuclear volume based on models conforming to (1) a prolate spheroid, or (2) a cylinder with hemispherical caps. This procedure appeared to underestimate enterocyte volumes and failed to reveal volume differences between controls and gluten-sensitive individuals. Finally, a fourth method was devised, based on traditional intraepithelial profile counts per hundred enterocyte nuclei, calculation of surface epithelial volume and of the absolute number of lymphocytes contained therein."
Comments p.464 right column bottom paragraph:"Cell volumes obtained by method 4 were extremely high. These were based on calculations of the number of enterocytes derived from knowledge of the absolute lymphocyte count (Nv, SE) (Table 3) and of the IEL/enterocyte profile density (Table 4): hence, total volume of surface epithelium (VsE) divided by calculated number of enterocytes yields an average volume per enterocyte. It should be noted that all derived calculations, in which densities of IEL/100 enterocytes were used, seemed to be aberrant, including number of enterocytes (Table 3) as well as actual, compared with relative, ratios of IEL to enterocytes (Table 4)." IEL=intraepithelial lymphocyte. See notes beneath table
Entered by Uri M
ID 111731