Protective effects of oral glutathione on fasting-induced intestinal atrophy through oxidative stress

Figure 7 Effects of fasting and glutathione treatment on apoptotic index in the jejunal villus and crypt. Representative apoptotic changes determined by conventional light microscopy of hematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained sections of the jejunal mucosa are shown in A. Left side: A jejunal villus from a 72-h fasted rat with 500 mg/kg GSH treatment. Apoptotic cells in the villus are indicated by an arrow showing an apoptotic corpuscle (a) and condensed chromatin (b). Bar = 100 μm (low magnification). Bar = 20 μm (high magnification). Right side: Jejunal crypts from 48- and 72-h fasted rats. Apoptotic cells in the crypt are indicated by an arrow showing an intensely eosinophilic cytoplasm and nuclear fragmentation (c) and condensed chromatin (d). Bar = 20 μm. AI distribution curves in the villus and the crypt are shown in B. AI is defined as the total number of apoptotic cells at each cell position and is expressed as a percentage of the total number of cells counted at that cell position. Cell position 1 is defined as the cell at the crypt-villus junction and the cell at the base of the crypt column for the villus and crypt data, respectively. 7-8 rats were tested in each group. GSH: Glutathione; SA: Saline.