Microvilli- and Desmosome-Associated Bodies in Crohnʼs Disease and Other Disorders in Childhood

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ultrastructural studies of the small and large intestine from children revealed five cases showing abnormal small electron-dense bodies within enterocytes and goblet cells. The characteristic features of the bodies were: (a) they occurred within microvilli and within the apical part of the cell cytoplasm; (b) they showed an association with the most apically located desmosomes of the epithelial cells; (c) in the microvilli they were present within protrusions of the membrane, suggesting that they may bud out of the cell; and (d) they were not membrane-bound within the cell but were found outside the cell as luminal, membrane-bound particles. These bodies occurred in two children with Crohn's disease and in three children having other gastrointestinal disorders. Similar electron-dense bodies which did not have all of the characteristics listed above were found in a sixth child who had Crohn's disease. These electron-dense bodies do not resemble any known inclusion of intestinal epithelium, nor do they resemble any previously described microorganism, although their apparent release from the cell by a process of budding is suggestive of a microbial identity. The occurrence of these bodies in childhood Crohn's disease suggests that they may be disease-related, but their precise nature and relevance to this or other gastrointestinal disorders remain unknown.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: