Adipocyte morphometric study and apoptotic index in mesenteric adipose tissue of patients with Crohn's disease

Abstract

Crohn's Disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease whose pathogenesis is still not fully understood. Genetic, environmental and immunologic influences seem to be involved. Furthermore, cellular mechanisms and chemical mediators of inflammation have been shown to be directly related to the disease. Bowel immune system response deregulation and, more recently, the apoptotic pathways and cytokines expression by mesenteric adipose tissue next to the bowel injured zone are the main suggested pathogenic mechanisms of CD. The mesenteric fat has shown increasing importance in the etiopathogenesis of CD and appears as an important bowel inflammatory process agent. Few studies in the scientific literature evaluate the mesenteric adipose tissue. Besides, there are no reports about apoptotic index analysis so far, nor morphometric studies in this tissue. We believe mesenteric adipocytes in patients with CD present functional, morphometric and cellular apoptosis variations directly related to the disease's activity. The morphometric analysis of these cells may provide further disease's etiopathogenesis understanding, preventive ways and more efficient treatment methods for CD. Through an analysis program of scanned images named ImageJ we will study morphometric characteristics of adipocytes (number, shape and cellular area) in mesenteric adipose tissue of patients with CD and controls. The apoptotic index study will be done through the TUNEL technique and the results will be compared and statistically analyzed, adopting a 5% significance level. (AU)