Ultrastructural observation of adherence of eosinophils to their surroundings

This study concerned the way in which eosinophils adhere to their surroundings. Many fibrils were seen to adhere to the cell membrane of eosinophils migrating into the submucosa. Those eosinophils migrating into the epithelial layer adhered to the epithelial cells in 2 different ways: through the thin filaments bridging 2 cells and at the top of the cell projections. Eosinophils were found to move chemotactically through this eosinophil adhesion to the surrounding filaments or epithelial cells. It is possible that eosinophil granular protein directly affected the epithelial cells as a regulatory agent of the expression of adhesion molecules on individual epithelial cells, because eosinophil peroxidase was detected in the filaments bridging 2 cells. Accordingly, the expression sites of adhesion molecules must momentarily change under the direct cross-talk between 2 cells. Adherence between the eosinophils as well as large particles stretching between 2 eosinophils were also visualized.