Branchial epithelium of Pseudophoxinus antalyae was lined by both a thick stratified epithelium lining gill arches, gill rakers and primary filaments and a thin epithelium lining the lamellae. ...Mucous, chloride and rodlet cells, interspersed between pavement cells, were present in the branchial epithelium. With histochemical procedures for the characterization of glycoconjugates, mucous cells showed a strong positive reaction with Periodic acid-Shiff and Alcian Blue at pH 2.5, although with Alcian Blue at pH 0.5 and pH 1.0 the reaction was much weaker. When the combined Alcian Blue (pH 2.5) - Periodic acid-Shiff reaction was performed, most mucous cells were stained purple, whereas by the combined Aldehyde Fuchsin/Alcian Blue (pH 2.5), most cells showed a positive reaction only to Aldehyde Fuchsin. Methylation/ Alcian Blue (pH 2.5) and Methylation/ Saponification/ Alcian Blue (pH 2.5) methods showed the presence of sulphated and carboxylated glycoconjugates in mucous cells. Mucous cells were also detected to stain all metachromatically with Toluidine Blue.
Preferential production of immunoregulatory cytokines may play an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B. We aimed to determine the serum levels of IL-2, IL-10 and TNF-alpha in ...patients with chronic hepatitis B and to correlate these findings with the activity of liver disease, HBeAg/anti-HBe status and replication level of the virus.
Seventy-two chronic hepatitis B patients were categorized into 4 groups according to activity of liver disease and HBeAg status. Group 1 (n = 13): HBeAg and HBV DNA-positive with persistently normal ALT. Group 2 (n = 20): HBeAg and HBV DNA-positive patients with persistently elevated ALT. Group 3 (n = 19): HBeAg and HBV DNA-negative patients with persistently normal ALT. Group 4 (n = 20): HBeAg-negative patients with persistently elevated ALT and variable serum HBV DNA. IL-2, IL-10 and TNFa levels were determined in stored patient sera.
Apart from group 1 patients, all patients groups had higher IL-2 levels compared to controls suggesting that IL-2 production is increased when liver disease becomes active in HBeAg-positive phase of HBV infection. Only group 2 patients had elevated IL-10 levels compared to controls. None of the HBeAg-negative patients had detectable TNF-alpha levels while 64% HBeAg-positive patients had elevated levels of TNF-alpha irrespective of the activity of liver disease. Except TNF-alpha, no association was found between HBV DNA status and the presence or absence of detectable cytokines in circulation.
Our results suggest that circulating cytokine profile in chronic hepatitis B is related with the HBeAg status, replication level of the virus and the activity of liver disease.
