Hyaluronan’s Role in Fibrosis: A Pathogenic Factor or a Passive Player?

Figure 3

Colon tissue sections from a non-IBD and an IBD patient stained with hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) (a) or HA binding protein ((b), HA = green and DAPI = blue). The IBD colon shows symptoms of fibrosis, characterized by the expanded muscularis mucosae (dotted white line, M) compared to non-IBD control. Fluorescence histochemical staining shows elevated deposition of HA in both the epithelium and the muscularis mucosae as labeled by the white arrows. Scale bar (solid line) represents 100 µm. IBD is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. Development of fibrosis is a common and serious complication of IBD, one which requires surgical intervention to repair. It is thought that fibrosis in IBD stems from the chronic nature of inflammation signaling uncontrolled levels of wound healing.

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