Irritable Bowel Syndrome Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Irritable Bowel Syndrome, including details on treatment, symptoms, digestion, nutrition, diet, drugs.

Mast cells and cellularity of the colonic mucosa correlated with fatigue and depression in irritable bowel syndrome.

Piche T, Saint-Paul MC, Dainese R, Marine-Barjoan E, Iannelli A, Montoya ML, Peyron JF, Czerucka D, Cherikh F, Filippi J, Tran A, Hébuterne X

Fédération d'Hépato-Gastroentérologie et de Nutrition Clinique, Hôpital de l'Archet, Pôle digestif, CHU de Nice, Nice, France. tpiche@fc.horus-medical.fr

BACKGROUND: A subset of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have an increased number of mast cells (MCs) in the colonic mucosa. Psychological factors are believed to contribute to the course of IBS. AIMS: To examine associations between fatigue, depression and MCs of the colonic mucosa in IBS. METHODS: Colonic biopsies were taken from 50 Rome II IBS patients, 21 healthy controls and 11 depressed/fatigued patients without IBS. The cellularity of the lamina propria was determined as the number of inflammatory cells per high power field (hpf) through a 400x microscope. The Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) and the short form Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) evaluated the severity of fatigue and depression. RESULTS: IBS patients had a significant increase in the cellularity of the lamina propria compared with controls or with depressed patients (mean (SD) 94.5 (48-110) vs 68 (58-82) and 78 (87-90) cells per hpf, p = 0.005 and p = 0.05, respectively), in particular of MCs (9.3 (5.6-11.7) vs 4.0 (2.7-6.8) and 4.3 (2.8-7.8) cells per hpf, p = 0.001 and p = 0.005, respectively). Both the FIS and BDI scores were significantly higher in IBS or in depressed patients than in controls (p<0.001). In IBS, the FIS score correlated significantly with the cellularity of the lamina propria (r = 0.51, p<0.0001) and MCs (r = 0.64, p<0.0001). In IBS, the BDI score correlated significantly with MCs (r = 0.29, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated MCs counts are a key feature of the low-grade inflammatory infiltrate in the caecal mucosa of IBS. Fatigue and depression are associated with mucosal cell counts, in particular MCs, suggesting that psychological factors are associated with the low-grade inflammatory infiltrate in IBS.

Published 12 March 2008 in Gut, 57(4): 468-73.
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Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 4 March 2008:

Technology Insight: new techniques for imaging the gut in patients with IBD.   Nat Clin Pract Gastroenterol Hepatol, 5(3): 154-61.

Advances in techniques for imaging the gut continue to drive the rapid development of modalities for diagnosing and assessing the activity of IBD. Abdominal ultrasound and magnetic resonance enterography have shown great potential for the diagnosis of IBD and assessment of its distribution, with the benefit of avoiding radiation exposure and serving as a safe option for pregnant patients. CT enterography or CT enteroclysis, with neutral or negative contrast, seems to be a sensitive and specific ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 29 February 2008:

ADAM-15: a metalloprotease that mediates inflammation.   FASEB J, 22(3): 641-53.

Cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions are of utmost importance in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. For example, cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions are crucial for leukocyte homing and recruitment to inflammatory sites. The discovery of the disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM) proteins, which have both adhesive and proteolytic activities, raised the question of their involvement in inflammatory processes. More interestingly, the presence of the RGD integrin-binding sequence in ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 4 February 2008:

Effect of abuse history on pain reports and brain responses to aversive visceral stimulation: an FMRI study.   Gastroenterology, 134(2): 396-404.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Abuse history is common in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and is associated with greater pain reporting, psychologic distress, and poorer health outcome. These effects may be mediated by enhanced responses to aversive visceral stimuli. We investigated the effects of IBS and abuse history on pain reporting and brain activation in response to rectal distentions. METHODS: Ten female patients with IBS and 10 controls were included. Half of patients in each group reported a ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 30 January 2008:

Recent developments in the therapy of irritable bowel syndrome.   Expert Opin Investig Drugs, 17(2): 117-30.

There is tremendous activity and excitement in the arena of drug development for the treatment of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Pharmacologic therapy has been largely limited to gut acting therapeutic agents including antidiarrheals, laxatives and antispasmodics that primarily target individual symptoms. Various antidepressants have gained popularity although their efficacy in clinical trials has been modest and their clinical utility is limited by untoward side effects. Serotonergic ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 21 January 2008:

Postinfectious irritable bowel syndrome.   Clin Infect Dis, 46(4): 594-9.

After acute bacterial gastroenteritis, up to one-third of patients will have prolonged gastrointestinal complaints, and a portion of those affected will meet the diagnostic criteria for postinfectious irritable bowel syndrome. After resolution of the acute infection, patients with postinfectious irritable bowel syndrome appear to have chronic mucosal immunologic dysregulation with altered intestinal permeability and motility that can lead to persistent intestinal symptoms. Both host- and ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 10 January 2008:

Reduced brainstem inhibition during anticipated pelvic visceral pain correlates with enhanced brain response to the visceral stimulus in women with irritable bowel syndrome.   J Neurosci, 28(2): 349-59.

Cognitive factors such as fear of pain and symptom-related anxiety play an important role in chronic pain states. The current study sought to characterize abnormalities in preparatory brain response before aversive pelvic visceral distention in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and their possible relationship to the consequences of distention. The brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response to anticipated and delivered mild and moderate ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 20 December 2007:

Intestinal secretory and absorptive function in Trichinella spiralis mouse model of postinfective gut dysfunction: role of bile acids.   Gut, 57(1): 41-9.

OBJECTIVE: Observations showing that bile acid malabsorption is frequent in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) suggest that alterations in bile acid-induced secretion and absorption could contribute to IBS-associated diarrhoea. The secretory response to bile acids, fluid transport and bile absorption was examined in intestinal tissues from a Trichinella spiralis mouse model of postinfectious gut dysfunction in vitro. Changes in the protein expression of apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Irritable Bowel Syndrome published 13 December 2007:

Review article: abdominal bloating and distension in functional gastrointestinal disorders--epidemiology and exploration of possible mechanisms.   Aliment Pharmacol Ther, 27(1): 2-10.

BACKGROUND: A sensation of abdominal bloating, sometimes accompanied by an increase in girth (distension), is one of the most common and most intrusive features of functional bowel disorders. AIM: To conduct a systematic, evidence-based review of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of abdominal bloating and its relationship to distension. METHODS: The terms bloating, distension, functional bowel, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation and diarrhoea were searched on MEDLINE up to 2006. ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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