Life in the Gut Without Oxygen: Adaptive Mechanisms and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Protective and reparative mechanisms of HIF in model IBD intestine. Note in upper panel infiltration of neutrophils following a period of hypoxia and repair (arrows). These neutrophils traverse the repaired mucosa, and may lead to recurrence of epithelial loss. Note in the lower panel restitution of ileum subjected to ischemia/reperfusion in which tissues have been allowed to recover. Evidence of restitution is noted in the form of flattened epithelial cells crawling across denuded mucosa. However, further repair is required in some sections of tissue (arrows).