Differential responses of VIPergic and nitrergic neurons in paediatric patients with Crohn's disease

Inflammatory bowel disease is a recurrent intestinal inflammatory disorder that in adults has been associated with changes in enteric nervous system neuropeptide expression. The aim of the present study was to determine whether similar changes were observed in paediatric Crohn's disease. The distribution of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) was determined in colonic tissues from children with ileo-colonic (n = 4) and colonic (n = 3) Crohn's disease. The submucosal plexus of inflamed regions showed significant increase in density of VIP immunoreactive neurons (margin, 48% vs. inflamed tissue, 82% of HuC/D positive neurons). The density of submucosal plexus nNOS immunoreactive neurons was too low to be reliably quantified. Using the pan-neuronal marker HuC/D, no significant difference in numbers of HuC/D positive submucosal neurons was evident except where neurons were normalized to length of tissue (margins, 3.6 ± 0.7 vs. inflamed tissue, 4.0 ± 0.6 neurons/ganglia, p = 0.33; margins, 2.7 ± 0.4 vs. inflamed tissue, 5.7 ± 1.2, neurons/mm, p = 0.03). In the myenteric plexus, there was a significant increase in the percent of NOS neurons (38% vs. 82% of HuC/D positive neurons) while there was no significant difference in percent of VIP neurons (4% vs. 8%). No difference in number of HuC/D positive myenteric neurons among margin and inflamed tissues was observed (margin, 12.2 ± 3.0 vs. inflamed tissue, 12.5 ± 5.1 neurons/ganglia, p = 0.50; margins 9.1 ± 2.1 vs. inflamed tissue, 13.7 ± 2.3 neurons/mm, p = 0.11). These data demonstrate that inflammation is associated with a differential expression of VIP and nNOS neuronal subpopulations within the two major enteric plexi, likely due to phenotypic switch. Such changes might contribute to the pathogenesis of IBD and ongoing symptoms even in quiescent disease.