Changes in neuropeptide-containing nerves in human colonic mucosa with inflammatory bowel disease

The distribution abnormality of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-containing nerves (VIP-nerves) and substance P-containing nerves (SP-nerves) was immunohistochemically investigated in the colonic mucosa with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in relation to colonic glands and blood vessels in the lamina propria. In active ulcerative colitis (UC), VIP- and SP-nerves decreased in severe inflammatory lesions. VIP-nerves were almost absent particularly around crypt abscesses. Even in resolving and quiescent UC, VIP-nerves still decreased, depending on the decrease of glands and blood vessels. On the other hand, both nerves increased in some hypervascular lesions. In the uninvolved mucosa of UC, they did not change their distribution. In Crohn's disease, the distribution abnormality of both nerves resembled that of UC. These results suggest that the changes in VIP- and SP-nerve distributions in the mucosa with IBD are subsequent to mucosal inflammation and damage. However, these peptides are known to be immunoregulators, and their distribution abnormalities may induce the disorder of immunoregulation in the IBD mucosa and cause the mucosal damage and/or chronicity.