Comparative viabilities of rat intestinal epithelial cells prepared by mechanical, enzymatic and chelating methods.

Mechanical, enzymatic and chelating methods for isolating rat intestinal epithelial cells were compared to determine the best technique for obtaining high yields of viable cells. The mechanical techniques resulted in consistently poor viability compared with the other methods. There was excellent agreement between viability determinations made by trypan blue exclusion and by cytofluorochromasia.

Discordant HLA haplotype segregation in familial Crohn's disease.

To look for possible HLA linkage in familial Crohn's disease, HLA haplotype segregation patterns were determined in 70 members of five kindreds, each having 2 or more patients with Crohn's disease (total number: 13 with Crohn's disease, 1 with ulcerative colitis). Concordant segregation of HLA haplotypes and disease was not observed. Study of HLA A and B locus phenotypes in 64 additional patients with documented Crohn's disease failed to show any significant disease association.

Lymphocyte subpopulations of intestinal mucosa in inflammatory bowel disease.

Lymphocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood (PBL) and intestinal mucosa (IML) of 10 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were compared with those of 11 non-IBD controls. PBL were separated on Ficoll/hypaque gradients, and IML were isolated by incubation in dithiothreitol, EDTA, and collagenase. These methods yielded cells of good viability and with intact HLA A and B-antigens.