This study investigated the inflammatory effect of intraoperative mitomycin C (MMC) on adhesion reformation in human rectus muscles. Ten consecutive patients who underwent medial rectus resection had their postoperative rectus muscles divided into two groups: control group (n = 10) and MMC group (n = 10). In the MMC group, the muscle was soaked for 2 min with MMC, prepared as a 0.2 mg/mL (0.02%) solution. The 0.02% MMC reactions were examined using histological analysis with hematoxylin-eosin (inflammatory response) and Masson's trichrome (collagen fibrils), immunoreactivities of cyclooxygenase-II (inflammatory response), and collagen type I and III, scanning electron microscopy analysis to quantify the diameter and D-periodicity of collagen fibrils, and atomic force microscopy analysis to quantify the diameter, D-periodicity, and adhesion force of collagen fibrils. The rectus muscles treated with 0.02% MMC showed a significantly increased inflammatory response (p < 0.05), increased collagen density (p < 0.0001), increased fibril diameter (p < 0.001 or p < 0.05), and decreased fibril adhesion force (p < 0.005) compared to the rectus muscles in the control group. MMC simultaneously caused an inflammatory response as well as nanostructural and biomechanical property changes in the collagen fibril network.

Diverticulosis is a condition that is associated with ageing. The older the individual the more likely they are to have diverticulosis, but this process is not necessarily inevitable. Diverticula are a herniation through the wall of the sigmoid colon and are likely to be a consequence of a weakness in the colonic wall or prolonged exposure to increased intracolonic pressure consequent on a low dietary fibre intake. The tensile strength of the colon declines with age and becomes least in the distal colon. Adult Africans living in Africa eat a high-fibre diet and are free from diverticulosis. Their colons are stronger, wider and thinner than those Scottish adults of the same age. The strength of the colon is in part dependent on collagen fibres and their diameter. The collagen fibrils on the left side of the colon are smaller and more tightly packed than those of the right side of the colon. Ageing and the presence of colonic diverticulosis are associated with smaller more-tightly-packed collagen fibrils. An animal model was established to investigate the effect of a lifelong high- and low-fibre diet on the development of colonic diverticulosis. The findings show that a high-fibre diet from birth, and preferably a maternal high-fibre diet, lessen the risk of diverticulosis with age.

Morphological features of the cap enameloid and dental epithelial cells were investigated by light and transmission electron microscopy during the various stages of enameloid mineralisation and early maturation in the tilapia. The pattern of mineralisation along collagen fibrils in the enameloid differed from that in the dentine. Many matrix vesicles were found in the predentine and in the enameloid, suggesting that they may be involved in the initial mineralisation in both regions. Most of the organic matrix disappeared from the cap enameloid during mineralisation and maturation. The disappearance of the organic matrix could be divided into 2 stages. Initially a fine network-like matrix, which probably consisted of glycosaminoglycans and extended between collagen fibrils, began to disappear. At the same time, fine crystallites and electron-dense, fine granular material covered the collagen fibrils as mineralisation of the enameloid began. In the second stage, the maturation of the enameloid, the collagen fibrils degenerated completely and disappeared from the cap enameloid, being replaced by large numbers of large crystals. At the mineralisation stage, the numbers of lysosomal bodies tended to increase in the inner dental epithelial (IDE) cells, which contained a well developed Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER). At the early stage of maturation, a ruffled border was noted at the distal ends of the IDE cells, which contained many mitochondria and lysosomal bodies, but less rER. These features suggest that the cells actively absorb the organic matrix, which includes collagen fibrils, in the cap enameloid. The outer dental epithelial (ODE) cells were translucent cells that contained well developed labyrinthine canalicular spaces from the onset of the mineralisation stage to the middle stage of maturation. The IDE and ODE cells were clearly involved in the mineralisation of the cap enameloid at the mineralisation and maturation stages.