Links Between Adolescents' Moral Mindsets and Narratives of their Inconsistent and Consistent Moral Value Experiences

Past work on moral mindsets has largely overlooked the adolescent developmental period, a time when adolescents are navigating the complexities of moral life and experiencing tensions between important moral principles and their own actions. This study investigated how moral incrementalism and essentialism are linked to how adolescents construct meanings about their moral experiences. The sample included 96 Canadian adolescents (12-15-years of age; M = 13.5 years). Adolescents generated written narratives of times when they acted inconsistently and consistently with a moral value, and completed a vignette-based measure of moral mindsets. Moral incrementalism was associated with references to the psychological and emotional facets of experiences and engaging in meaning-making processes in narratives. Adolescents who endorsed incrementalism disengaged less only when narrating a self-discrepant experience, indicating some context-specificity across moral event types. Overall, results contribute to scholarship on moral mindset and narrative identity construction. Findings illuminate how individual differences in youth's views of moral traits and behavior may be associated with important aspects of moral identity development such as delving into the psychological and emotional aspects of their experiences and engaging in meaning-making processes.

Supernatants of irritable bowel syndrome mucosal biopsies impair human colonic smooth muscle contractility

BACKGROUND

Changes in intestinal motility are likely to contribute to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) pathophysiology. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of IBS mucosal supernatants on human colonic muscle contractility.

METHODS

Supernatants were obtained from biopsies of 18 IBS patients-nine with constipation (IBS-C) and nine with diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D)-and nine asymptomatic subjects, used as controls. Colonic circular smooth muscle strips or isolated cells (SMC) were exposed to control or IBS supernatants. Spontaneous phasic contractions on strips and morphofunctional parameters on cells were evaluated in basal conditions and in response to acetylcholine (Ach). Incubation with IBS supernatants was also conducted in the presence of antagonists and inhibitors (namely histamine, protease and prostaglandin antagonists, nuclear factor-kappa B inhibitor, catalase, NADPH oxidase inhibitor, and the cAMP- and/or cGMP-cyclase inhibitors).

KEY RESULTS

Exposure to IBS-C and IBS-D supernatants induced a significant reduction in basal tone and Ach-elicited contraction of muscle strips and a significant shortening and impairment of Ach contraction of SMCs. The NADPH oxidase inhibitor prevented the effect of supernatants, while the protease antagonist only IBS-C effect. No effect was observed with the other antagonists and inhibitors. Dilution of IBS-D supernatants partially restored the effects only on SMCs, whereas dilution of IBS-C supernatants significantly reverted the effects on muscle strips and Ach-elicited response on SMC.

CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES

Supernatants from mucosal biopsies of IBS patients reduce colonic contractility. The observed impairment was concentration dependent, likely occurring through intracellular oxidative stress damage, involving different neuromotor mechanisms depending on the IBS subtype.

Contribution of intestinal smooth muscle to Crohn's disease fibrogenesis

Mesenchymal cells transdifferentiation and extracellular matrix deposition are involved in the fibrotic process of Crohn's disease (CD). Mesenchymal smooth muscle cells (SMCs) de-differentiation, driven by Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) that counteracts Transforming growth factor (TGF-β) has been studied in vascular muscle. The role of SMCs in intestinal fibrogenesis is still not clearly elucidated. Aim of the study was to evaluate the possible myogenic contribution to CD fibrotic process through the comparative analysis of histological, morphometric and molecular alterations occurring in human smooth muscle. Full thickness specimens were obtained from CD (non-involved and stenotic tracts) and healthy (control) ileum. Tissues were processed for histological and immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses and SMCs were isolated from the muscularis propria for morphofunctional and molecular (qPCR) analyses. CD stenotic ileum showed a significant increased thickness of all layers compared to CD non-involved and control ileum. IHC revealed an overexpression of α-smooth muscle actin and collagens I-III throughout all intestinal layers only in stenotic tracts. The two growth factors, PDGF and TGF-β, showed a progressive increase in expression in the muscle layer from CD non-involved to stenotic tracts. Freshly isolated SMCs presented alterations in CD non-involved tracts that progressively increased in the stenotic tracts consisting in a statistical increase in mRNA encoding for PDGF-β and collagen III, paralleled to a decrease in TGF-β and Tribbles-like protein-3 mRNA, and altered morphofunctional parameters consisting in progressive decreases in cell length and contraction to acetylcholine. These findings indicate that intrinsic myogenic alterations occur in CD ileum, that they likely precede stricture formation, and might represent suitable new targets for anti-fibrotic interventions.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus protects human colonic muscle from pathogen lipopolysaccharide-induced damage

BACKGROUND

Lactobacillus species might positively affect gastrointestinal motility. These Gram-positive bacteria bind Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) that elicits anti-inflammatory activity and exerts protective effects on damage induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Whether such effect occurs in gastrointestinal smooth muscle has not been established yet. Aim of this study was to characterize the effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) and of supernatants harvested from LGG cultures on human colonic smooth muscle and to explore their protective activity against LPS-induced myogenic morpho-functional alterations.

METHODS

The effects of LGG (ATCC 53103 strain) and of supernatants have been tested on both human colonic smooth muscle strips and isolated cells in the absence or presence of LPS obtained from a pathogenic strain of Escherichia coli. Their effects on myogenic morpho-functional properties, on LPS-induced NFκB activation, and on cytokine production have been evaluated. Toll-like receptor 2 expression has been analyzed by qPCR and flow cytometry.

KEY RESULTS

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG exerted negligible transient effects per se whereas it was capable of activating an intrinsic myogenic response counteracting LPS-induced alterations. In particular, both LGG and supernatants significantly reduced the LPS-induced morpho-functional alterations of muscle cells, i.e. cell shortening and inhibition of contractile response. They also hindered LPS-induced pro-inflammatory effects by decreasing pro-inflammatory transcription factor NFκB activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 secretion, and restored the secretion levels of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL10.

CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES

Taken together these data demonstrate that LGG protects human colonic smooth muscle from LPS-induced myogenic damage and might be beneficial on intestinal motor disorders due to bacterial infection.

Myogenic regional responsiveness to cholinergic and vipergic stimulation in human colon

BACKGROUND

Differences in the actions of enteric neurotransmitters on colonic circular and longitudinal muscle layers have not been clearly determined, nor the possible existence of intrinsic myogenic phenotypes that might contribute to regional differences in human colon motor activity. The aim of this study was to analyze the direct pharmaco-mechanical coupling of carbachol (CCh) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) on human colonic smooth muscle strips and cells.

METHODS

Circular and longitudinal muscle strips and cells were obtained from 15 human specimens of ascending and sigmoid colon. Both isometric tension on muscle strips and contraction and relaxation on cells were measured in response to increasing CCh and VIP concentrations.

KEY RESULTS

Circular muscle strips of ascending colon were more sensitive to the effect of CCh than that of sigmoid colon, EC(50) values being, respectively, 4.15μmolL(-1) and 8.47μmolL(-1) (P<0.05), although there were no differences in maximal responses. No regional differences were observed in longitudinal muscle strips or in smooth muscle cells. Maximal responses to CCh were higher on circular than longitudinal muscle strips and cells throughout the colon. A greater sensitivity to VIP was observed in ascending colon compared with sigmoid colon, both in circular (EC(50:) 0.041 and 0.15μmolL(-1) , respectively, P<0.01) and longitudinal (EC(50:) 0.043 and 0.09μmolL(-1) , respectively, P<0.05) strips, and similar differences were observed in longitudinal smooth muscle cells (EC(50:) 44.85 and 75.24nmolL(-1) , respectively, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES

Regional myogenic differences in pharmaco-mechanical coupling between the enteric neurotransmitters and smooth muscle contribute to the complex regional motor patterns of human colon.