Role of the advanced glycation end products receptor in Crohn’s disease inflammation

Figure 1 Receptor for the advanced glycation end products expression. The percentage of samples in each category of both grading (A and B) and intensity (C and D) staining, and the number of positive cells (E and F) are reported. The average values of receptor for the advanced glycation end products (RAGE) immunoreactivity detected at the epithelial (A and C) and the lamina propria (B and D) compartments of patients suffering from Crohn’s disease (CD) and the control subjects (HC) are given. In CD patients, the averages of assessments between the areas of diseased mucosa and the areas of non-diseased mucosa were also compared. Moreover, the number of positive cells in the epithelial compartment (E) was calculated by a differential count of at least 500 cells and the results expressed as a percentage, while in the lamina propria (F) compartment, it was performed by differential counts of positive cells on 10 high-power microscopic fields per slide (n/10 HPF), and the results displayed as the mean number of positive cells. A higher, but not statistically significant, number of RAGE+ cells were observed in both diseased and non-diseased areas of CD patients in comparison with normal tissue of HC. The box-plots in panels E and F show median, 25^th, and 75^th percentile and extremes.