Increased intestinal mucosal leptin levels in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Figure 1 Intestinal mucosal histology (hematoxylin and eosin staining), mast cell toluidine blue staining, mast cell count (/mm²), and mast cell activation rate (%) in irritable bowel syndrome patients and controls. A: Colonic mucosal histology of IBS-D patients (× 200); B: Colonic mucosal histology of healthy controls (× 200); C: Mast cell toluidine blue staining of IBS-D tissue (× 400, arrows represent mast cells); D: Mast cell toluidine blue staining of normal control tissue (× 400, arrows represent mast cells); E: Mast cell count was not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.164); F: Mast cell activation rate significantly increased in IBS-D patients (P < 0.001). Line in the scatter plots means the median. IBS-D: Iirritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea.