Figure 1.
High iron diamine and alcian blue (pH 2.5) stained sections of human colon.
Sulfomucin is stained black/brown and sialomucin is stained blue. Top 3 panels demonstrate typical spatial variation among 3 colonic regions within one individual: A) Right colon B) Left colon C) Rectum. Bottom 3 panels demonstrate typical interindividual variation within each colonic region. In this case, all 3 are sections of right colon from D) Subject 6 E) Subject 8 F) Subject 9.
Figure 2.
Area of acidomucin staining per area of epithelium in biopsies from three regions of colon.
A) Sulfomucin and B) sialomucin staining per area of epithelium and C) % sulfomucin in each colonic region. All data represent mean ± SEM (n = 20); statistically significant differences are indicated by different letters (p<0.05).
Figure 3.
Comparison between female (n = 12) and male (n = 8) subjects of sulfomucin to sialomucin staining.
Area of A) sulfomucin and B) sialomucin staining in right colon, left colon, and rectum biopsies. The data represent mean ± SEM; statistically significant differences are indicated by different letters (p<0.05).
Figure 4.
Acidomucin scores for the surface epithelium, upper crypt, and lower crypt of the right colon, left colon, and rectum.
A) Sulfomucin and B) sialomucin scores were assigned based on the percent positive staining for each acidomucin as follows: 0 = no mucin staining in epithelium; 1 = 1–10% mucin staining; 2 = 11–50%; 3 = >50%. The data represent mean ± SEM (n = 20); statistically significant differences are indicated by different letters (p<0.05).
Figure 5.
Non-metric multidimensional scaling of acidomucin abundance relative to abundance of hydrogenotrophic microbes.
A) Abundance of sulfomucin versus that of acetogens, methanogenic Archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria and B) Abundance of sulfomucin versus that of Desulfobacter, Desulfobulbus, Desulfotomaculum and Desulfovibrio. Right colon samples appear in red, left colon in green, and rectum in blue.
Figure 6.
Abundance of four genera of SRB compared to relative abundance of sulfomucins (% of mucin chemotype).
A) Desulfobacter B) Desulfobulbus C) Desulfotomaculum and D) Desulfovibrio (gene copies per g). Linear regression curve is shown for A), B) and C).
Table 1.
Subject Characteristics and Endoscopic Findings.