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Published on: October 12, 2017
Changes in interstitial cell of Cajal-like cells density in congenital ureteropelvic junction obstruction
Piotr Koleda1, Wojciech Apoznanski, Zdzislaw Wozniak
1Department of Pathophysiology, Wroclaw Medical University, ul. Marcinkowskiego 1, 50-368 Wroclaw, Poland. pkoleda@koleda-pl.eu
Purpose:
The authors examined the number of interstitial cells of Cajal-like cells (ICC-LCs) in obstructed ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) in comparison with normal UPJ specimens and age-related changes.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 20 human formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of intrinsic UPJO from children at the mean age of 8.1 years (age range: 8 months-16.8 years) and 5 control samples from children at the mean age of 2.3 years (range 2.4 months-7.4 years) were investigated immunohistochemically for the expression of c-kit proto-oncogene by light microscopy with computerized image analysis. The results were examined by Fisher's exact test, Yates' chi-square test, and t test for Pearson's correlation coefficient. A P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
The number of ICC-LCs-dense fields was significantly higher in UPJO specimens in comparison with the normal group (P = 0.0004). The number of ICC-LCs-sparse fields was significantly lowered in UPJO specimens in comparison with the normal group (P = 0.0122). There was no significant difference in the number of ICC-LCs-medium fields in obstructed and normal UPJ specimens. The number of ICC-LCs was decreasing significantly with increasing age of the patients with UPJO (P = 0.0038).
Conclusions:
The higher density of c-kit-positive ICC-LCs in UPJ may manifest the compensation of altered peristalsis in UPJO. The number of ICC-LCs-dense fields decreasing with age may show the failure of compensation and regression of the compensatory changes.
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