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Sulphur uptake in the mucosa adjacent to carcinoma of the large intestine

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Synopsis

A histochemical study of the epithelial mucosubstances was performed on surgical specimens from cases of carcinoma of the large intestine. Thein vitro uptake of sulphur was investigated in the same material by organ culture and autoradiography.

Pieces of normal mucosa at a distance from the tumour area and of apparently normal mucosa surrounding the tumour were taken in every specimen and the findings compared.

The distribution of mucosubstances in normal colon and rectum, called here the ‘normal mucous pattern’, shows a predominance of sulphated mucosubstances occupying from the lower half to the whole of the crypt. Non-sulphated acid mucosubstances are usually present in the upper part of the crypt. In the surface epithelium both types of acid mucin are usually present.

This ‘normal mucous pattern’ changes both qualitatively and quantitatively in the mucosa adjacent to the tumours, despite its being morphologically normal. This area may be termed the ‘transitional mucosa’; in it, a gradual decrease of sulphated material was observed together with an increased amount of a non-sulphated acid mucosubstance, most probably a sialic acidcontaining one.

Studies with sulphur show an uptake of the isotope along the crypt and surface epithelium in the normal, compared with the findings in ‘transitional’ mucosa where either the isotope is present only in the surface epithelium, or no uptake is observed either in surface epithelium or in crypt cells.

An interpretation and practical application of these findings are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Histochemistry, Westminster Medical School, London

    M. Isabel Filipe

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  1. M. Isabel Filipe
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Filipe, M.I. Sulphur uptake in the mucosa adjacent to carcinoma of the large intestine. Histochem J 3, 27–35 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01686504

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