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Human stools as a source of viable colonic epithelial cells
Author(s) -
Iyengar Vasantha,
Albaugh George P.,
Lohani Althaf,
Nair Padmanabhan P.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.5.13.1655550
Subject(s) - gastroenterology , chemistry , medicine
Human stools consist of a mixture of undigested food residues, colonic microflora, and cellular components shed from the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. The cellular components are made up mostly of terminally differentiated colonic epithelial cells. Using a combination of Percoll density gradient centrifugation and countercurrent centrifugal elutriation, it is now possible to recover these cells as an enriched fraction from fresh human stools. Cells can be visualized on heat‐fixed smears of the enriched fractions stained with modified Wright's stain. The enrichment process is optimized by following the segregation of eukaryotic cells as determined by an ELISA technique using monoclonal antibodies against human double‐stranded DNA. This work, demonstrating the feasibility of isolating intact colonic cells from stools, has important applications as a noninvasive approach to the biology of exfoliated cells from the gastrointestinal tract.—Iyengar, V.; Albaugh, G. P.; Lohani, A.; Nair, P. P. Human stools as a source of viable colonic epithelial cells. FASEB J. 5: 2856‐2859; 1991.