Influence of colonizing micro-flora on the mucin histochemistry of the neonatal mouse colon

Mucin histochemistry on sections of colon from germ-free and conventional mouse pups showed that all goblet cell mucins were sulphated at birth. During the first two weeks of post natal development, the pattern of mucin production in the ascending colon changed to a distribution of non-sulphated mucins towards the apical zone of the crypts and sulphated sialomucins basally. In conventional animals during the third postnatal week when the complex micro-flora of the colon was becoming established, the typical adult mucin distribution pattern developed, with sulphated mucins now confined to the upper third of the crypt. However, in the absence of a colonizing micro-flora crypt mucins become more and more sulphated until at weaning, most goblet cells of the ascending colon were producing fully or partially sulphated mucins, except for one or two cells at the very base of the crypt.