Ultrastructural changes in cells of the gastric and small intestinal mucosa during bronchial asthma.

The complex of structural changes in the gastroduodenal mucosa in patients with bronchial asthma is considered as a polyetiological primary degenerative process with progressive atrophy of the epithelium and formation of erosions. Ultrastructural signs included degenerative changes in the endothelium of microvessels and surface and glandular epithelium, which were accompanied by compensatory hyperfunction of intact mucus-producing cells, hyperplasia, and increased functional activity of mast and immunocompetent cells. The development of destructive and erosive lesions was associated with hyperplasia of parietal and endocrine cells in the mucosa. We evaluated the specific structural reactions clinically typical of bronchial asthma of different severity. The data are interpreted in terms of a relationship between pathological changes in the mucosa of different localization.