Isolation and characteristics of small intestinal lamina propria cells from normal and nematode (Nippostrongylus brasiliensis)-infected rats

Evidence for an interleukin 4-inducible immunoglobulin E uptake and transport mechanism in the intestine

Immunoglobulin (Ig) E is the principal Ig involved in immediate hypersensitivities and chronic allergic diseases such as asthma. Helminths are the most potent infectious agents known for their capacity to stimulate IgE production during the course of infection. In rats, the nematode Trichinella spiralis typically elicits a strong parasite-specific IgE response during infection, and this IgE antibody has been shown to be protective against the parasite in passive transfer experiments. The study reported here analyzed the fate of 125I-labeled myeloma IgE (1R162) in normal and T. spiralis-infected rats after intravenous injection. T. spiralis infection induced a capacity for specific binding to the gut wall of 125I-IgE rather than 125I-IgG1, as well as the transport of IgE, but not IgG1, into the gut lumen. Peak intestinal uptake and transport of 125I-IgE occurred during the first and second weeks after injection but was not elevated in the fourth week, that is, after intestinal adult worms had been expelled. Neither 125I-IgE uptake in the gut wall nor transport to the lumen could be ascribed to tissue damage or vascular leakage. Luminal transport occurred in the small intestine and not the liver, which only transports low molecular weight degraded 125I-IgE. Calculations based on the amount of intact IgE in the lumen suggest that, in a 24-h period, up to 20% of injected 125I-IgE can be transported to the gut lumen during the peak transport period, between 6 and 14 d after infection. The intestinal IgE binding and transport response can be adoptively transferred with T. spiralis immune CD4+ OX22- (CD45RC-) lymphocytes, which are protective, but not the nonprotective sister population CD4+ OX22+ (CD45RC+) of lymphocytes isolated simultaneously from thoracic duct lymph of infected rats. The intravenous infusion of recombinant rat interleukin 4 also elicited significant intestinal uptake of 125I-IgE. We also present evidence for the presence of CD23 on rat intraepithelial lymphocytes. These data provide evidence for a novel, inducible, intestine-specific IgE uptake and transport mechanism.

Intestinal mucosal mast cells in normal and nematode-infected rat intestines are in intimate contact with peptidergic nerves

Inflammatory or allergic conditions, as well as situations where healing and repair processes occur, are characterized by the presence of increased numbers of mast cells. Previous work on the effect of neuropeptides on mast cell mediator release showed that only substance P caused such release from intestinal mucosal mast cells [Shanahan, F., Denburg, J. A., Fox, J., Bienenstock, J. & Befus, A. D. (1985) J. Immunol. 135, 1331-1337]. Accordingly, we investigated the microanatomical relationship between mast cells and enteric nerves in normal rat intestine and parasite-infected rat intestine, in which mucosal mast cell hyperplasia occurs. Combined immunohistochemistry for neuron-specific enolase and staining with alcian blue at pH 0.5 was employed on paraffin-embedded sections of normal and Nippostrongylus brasiliensis-infected rat jejunum. Sixty-seven percent of intestinal mucosal mast cells were touching subepithelial nerves, and an additional 20% were within 2 micron of nerves. Assessment of the proportion of the lamina propria occupied by mast cells (12.5%), the average mast cell area (121 +/- 28 microns 2), and the density of enteric nerves (one per 788 +/- 151 microns 2) suggested that the association was 5 times greater than would be expected by chance alone (P less than 0.0001). In consecutive sections, the nerves in contact with mast cells were also shown to contain substance P and/or calcitonin-gene-related peptide. Electron microscopy confirmed this association: 8% of the mast cells in infected rats exhibited membrane-membrane contact with unmyelinated axons containing 70- to 170-nm dense-core vesicles, and an additional 31% were situated less than 250 nm from nerves. Other mast cells appeared to embrace nerve bundles through the projection of lamellopodia. These data provide systematic quantitative evidence that a structural foundation for communication between the immune and nervous systems exists in the rat gastrointestinal tract.