Recently, the number of patients with GERD has increased in Japan. However, there have been few reports about the pathological findings in the esophageal squamous epithelium, and there are differing opinions among pathologists about the findings considered characteristic of chronic reflux esophagitis.
Dr. Daisuke Asaoka and his colleagues from Juntendo University (Japan) used a rat model of chronic acid-reflux esophagitis to explore the esophageal mucosal damage macroscopically and microscopically throughout the entire esophagus, including the upper esophagus close to the hypopharynx, and to investigate the protective effects of ecabet sodium (ES) on the esophageal mucosa. This will be published on July 28, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology,
Their research revealed that epithelial thickening occurs at the same time as inflammatory cell infiltration in the middle to lower esophagus in chronic acid-reflux esophagitis. Furthermore, they demonstrated that inflammatory cells infiltrated the epithelium of the upper esophagus close to the hypopharynx, where there was no evidence of ulcers. These findings suggested that the reflux of gastric juice can extend to the upper esophagus close to the hypopharynx.
Moreove, the research also demonstrated that ES inhibited the epithelial thickening of the lower and middle esophagus, which suggested that ES may play a useful defensive role in the prevention of reflux esophagitis.
Reference: Asaoka D, Nagahara A, Oguro M, Izumi Y, Kurosawa A, Osada T, Kawabe M, Hojo M, Otaka M, Watanabe S. Characteristic pathological findings and effects of ecabet sodium in rat reflux esophagitis. World J Gastroenterol 2009; 15(28): 3480-3485 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/15/3480.asp
Correspondence to: Daisuke Asaoka, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan. daisuke@juntendo.ac.jp
About World Journal of Gastroenterology
World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2008 IF: 2.081. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.
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World Journal of Gastroenterology