Intestinal cells stave off bacteria by purging
Though purging is not prescribed as often as it was centuries ago, intestinal cells known as enterocytes frequently resort to this age-old remedy. Researchers from the Immune Response and Development in Insects (CNRS), Molecular Immunorheumatology (INSERM / Université de Strasbourg), and PAM Food Science and Microbiological Processes (AgroSup Dijon / Université de Bourgogne) laboratories have demonstrated that enterocytes attacked by pathogenic bacteria rapidly purge themselves of most of their contents. This protects them from infection and leads to a drastic though temporary thinning of the intestinal lining, or epithelium. This work, published on November 23 in Cell Host & Microbe, may eventually shed light on inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease.