Copper impairs the intestinal barrier integrity in Wilson disease.

In Wilson disease (WD), liver copper (Cu) excess, caused by mutations in the ATPase Cu transporting beta (ATP7B), has been extensively studied. In contrast, in the gastrointestinal tract, responsible for dietary Cu uptake, ATP7B malfunction is poorly explored. We therefore investigated gut biopsies from WD patients and compared intestines from two rodent WD models and from human ATP7B knock-out intestinal cells to their respective wild-type controls.

[Histopathological research laboratories in translational research : Conception and integration into the infrastructure of pathological institutes].

A systematic review of histopathology from experimental animal systems is an essential part of up-to-date biomedical research. Pathologists at university hospitals are especially and increasingly challenged by these specialized and time-consuming duties. This article presents and analyzes a new laboratory structure of comparative experimental pathology-jointly lead by veterinary and human pathologists-which might solve this problem.