Figure 3

Increased apoptosis is present in the myenteric plexus ganglia of necrotizing enterocolitis patients. (A), (B) Myenteric ganglia and submucosal ganglia respectively were subjected to immunohistochemistry using antibodies to HuC/D (neurons), glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP; glial cells), and cleaved caspase 3 (apoptotic cells). Scale bar: 50 μm. (C), (D) Cleaved caspase-3-positive neurons were counted and expressed as the percentage of total HuC/D stained neurons in ganglia from the myenteric plexus (M. plexus) and the submucosal plexus (S. plexus), respectively. Values represent mean ± standard error of the mean, with data generated from the intestines from 11 patients with acute necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and six patients with small bowel atresia (BA). *P < 0.05 versus control, ⁺P < 0.01 versus control.