Life and death at the mucosal-luminal interface: New perspectives on human intestinal ischemia-reperfusion

Figure 2 The human small intestine has efficient mechanisms to prevent excessive epithelial lining damage. A: Cartoon and hematoxylin-eosin staining demonstrating the appearance of subepithelial spaces (asterisks) after ischemia as a result of retraction of the basement membrane (arrowhead); B: Early during reperfusion, loose IR-damaged epithelial sheets are pulled together through active contraction of pMLC at the basal side of epithelial cells (green line, arrows), bringing these cells together; C: Zipper-like constriction of the epithelium is associated with rapid restoration of the epithelial lining and prevents exposure of lamina propria to intraluminal content. LP: Lamina propria; pMLC: Phosphorylated myosin light chain; F-ACTIN: Filamentous actin.