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No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Diabetic gastroenteropathy is a common complication, which develops in patients with long-term diabetes. The pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a neuropeptide known for its cytoprotective properties and plays an important role in neuronal development, neuromodulation and neuroprotection. The present study was designed to elucidate, for the first time, the impact of prolonged hyperglycaemia conditions on a population of PACAP-like immunoreactive neurons in selected parts of the porcine gastrointestinal tract. The experiment was conducted on 10 juvenile female pigs assigned to two experimental groups: The DM group (pigs with streptozocin-induced diabetes) and the C group (control pigs). Diabetes conditions were induced by a single intravenous injection of streptozocin. Six weeks after the induction of diabetes, all animals were euthanised and further collected, and fixed fragments of the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum and descending colon were processed using the routine double-labelling immunofluorescence technique. Streptozotocin-induced hyperglycaemia caused a significant increase in the population of PACAP-containing enteric neurons in the porcine stomach, small intestines and descending colon. The recorded changes may result from the direct toxic effect of hyperglycaemia on the ENS neurons, oxidative stress or inflammatory conditions accompanying hyperglycaemia and suggest that PACAP is involved in regulatory processes of the GIT function in the course of diabetes.

Background: Several environmental risk factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis ofinflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and might cause an altered barrier function, a hallmark ofIBD. Recent evidence suggests that patients with late-onset ulcerative colitis (UC) have anincreased serum level of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), one of the major chemical groupscontaminating our diet. A potential route via which PFAS might contribute to the disease is bydisrupting the intestinal barrier. However, whether intake of PFAS dose induce an increasedintestinal permeability is still unknown. Aim: The aim of the thesis is to investigate the effect of in vivo exposure toperfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOA) in mice on colon barrier function. The hypothesis is thatlong time exposure to PFOA contributes to the development of late-onset ulcerative colitis bydisrupting the intestinal barrier. Methods: This controlled laboratory study used 7 mice exposed to PFOA in vivo via thedrinking water for 3 weeks and a control group of 9 mice for reference. Colon tissue from themice were excised for assessing intestinal permeability using the Ussing chamber method.FITCH-dextran was used as a macromolecular probe in the Ussing chamber to investigate themucosal-serosal flux across the intestinal mucosa to see macromolecular permeability andelectrophysiological parameters were assessed to investigate tight junction permeability,stimulated secretory response to Carbachol and active ion transport. Results: Although there were no statistically significant results between the PFOA treated groupand the control group, a trend of increased secretory response to Carbachol was observed in thePFOA group compared to the controls. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that in vivo exposure to PFOA does not induce an alteredintestinal barrier in terms of electrophysiological parameters and macromolecular flux. Futureexperiments are needed with a larger population and potentially genetically predisposed mice.Key

<p>Current gold standard practices for the diagnosis of tissue disease involve invasive tissue biopsies subjected to a time consuming histopathological examination process. An optical biopsy can offer a non-invasive diagnostic alternative by exploiting the properties of naturally occurring light-tissue interactions. A time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy instrument (355 nm excitation) has previously been developed by our lab to capture the fluorescence response of gastrointestinal tissue (370-550 nm in 5 nm increments, 25 ns at 1000 ps/pt). Measurements were conducted ex-vivo during routine upper gastrointestinal tract biopsies on duodenum, antrum, stomach body, and esophageal tissue. The work currently presented is focused on protocol development for tissue handling, measurement collection, clinical data management, fluorescent decay modeling using Laguerre based deconvolution, instrument performance evaluation, and k-means based classification.</p> <p>Descriptive parameters derived from spectral (total signal intensity) and temporal (lifetime and Laguerre polynomial coefficients) analysis were used to evaluate the data. It was found that data were only compromised when the total signal intensity for the peak wavelength 455 nm fell blow 19.5 V·ns. The data did not exhibit any signs of photobleaching or pulse width broadening that would have otherwise distorted the lifetime from its true fluorescence response. Data for diseased tissue were limited so the clinical diagnosis was used to classify normal duodenum tissue from normal esophageal tissue. Over 400 pairs of parameters demonstrated k-means can identify duodenum tissue with 87.5 % sensitivity and 87.5 % specificity or better. With some dimensional axis transformations these results could be improved. The lifetimes are not factors here but the relative intensity and decay shape were. Protocols can be applied to diseased or other tissue types with little adaptation. Just a single set of parameters may hold the key to help surgeons choose optimum locations for traditional biopsies or perhaps one day replace them altogether.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

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No description available.