Vol 63, No 4 (2004)
Original article
Published online: 2004-09-16
Morphometric analysis of the small intestine in wild type mice C57BL/6L - a developmental study
Folia Morphol 2004;63(4):423-430.
Abstract
Recently the increasing prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases, including neoplasm,
has resulted in the necessity of characterising not only the tumours, but
also healthy mucosa. Research into the morphological changes of healthy mucosa
under different experimental conditions, including drugs, special diets and
the use of probiotic bacteria, is greatly facilitated by the availability of animal
models. In spite of the widespread use of mice in gastrointestinal research, there
is a lack of information on the qualitative and quantitative histological characteristics
of the intestinal mucosa of the mouse.
The aim of this study was to assess the morphological characteristics and the
postnatal development of the small intestine of wild type mice — C57BL/6J.
The mice were aged either 5 weeks or 12 weeks. The 12-week-old mice had
been weaned at the age of 5 weeks. After dissection the small intestine was
divided into 5 equal portions and randomly chosen microscopical sections from
each were stained with haematoxylin and eosin. The parameters describing the
morphology of the small intestine (villus height, depth of the crypt, villus width
near the crypt, width of the villus connective tissue near the crypt, thickness of
the muscular layer and the height of the enterocytes and their nuclei) were
evaluated under a light microscope.
In both age groups the height and width of the villi decreased, while the thickness
of the muscular layer increased in the distal direction. The height of the
enterocytes decreased and the height of the enterocyte nucleus increased towards
the colon in both age groups. The depth of the crypts was greater in the
younger animals than in the older ones.
Our data provides the baseline morphological description of the small intestinal
mucosa in wild type mice, strain C57BL/6J, which can be used as a reference for
testing the influence of drugs, toxins, nutrients and inborn mutations on the
mouse intestine.
Keywords: mousemorphometrydevelopment