Liu, J., Madsen, K.L., Boulanger, P., Dieleman, K.L., Meddings, J., Fedorak, R. (2010). Mind the gaps: Confocal endomicroscopy revealed increased density of small bowel epithelial gaps in inflammatory bowel disease, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 45(3), 240-245.

Confocal endomicroscopy can be used to image intestinal mucosa. Epithelial gaps resulting from shedding of epithelial cells have been reported in patients. We hypothesize that the rate of epithelial cell shedding increases in patients with Crohn's disease, leading to more epithelial gaps and barrier dysfunction. In this study, we used probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy to quantify epithelial cells and gaps in patients with Crohn's disease compared with controls. We also determined the density of epithelial gaps in a mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease interleukin-10-deficient mice, versus the background strain using rigid probe confocal endomicroscopy.

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