title: Human stools as a source of viable colonic epithelial cells.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Lipid Nutrition Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Iyengar
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Albaugh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lohani
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Nair
mesh_terms: D002452:Cell Count; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D002470:Cell Survival; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient; D003106:Colon / Q000166:cytology*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D005243:Feces / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D011205:Povidone; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
chemical_list: C016039:Percoll; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D004247:DNA; D011205:Povidone