Table 2.
Influence of age on the frequencies of endocrine cells and myenteric nerves in the colon of healthy IL-2+/+ and IL-2+/– mice
| Changes caused by increasing age | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numbers of endocrine cells expressing | Densities of myenteric nerves expressing | |||||
| PYY | Glucagon | Serotonin | PGP 9.5 | SP | VIP | |
| IL-2+/+ | Increased | Increased | Increased | Unchanged | Unchanged | Increased |
| n = 16 | rs = 0·59 | rs = 0·51 | rs = 0·57 | rs = 0·47 | rs = 0·23 | rs = 0·65 |
| (3 F, 13 M) | P = 0·02 | P = 0·04 | P = 0·02 | P = 0·006 | ||
| IL-2+/– | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| n = 13 | rs = − 0·11 | rs = 0·02 | rs = 0·02 | rs = 0·27 | rs = 0·23 | rs = 0·34 |
| (1 F, 12 M) | ||||||
PYY, Polypeptide YY; PGP 9.5, protein gene product 9.5; SP, substance P; VIP, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide; n, number of mice/group; F, female; M, male; rs, correlation coefficient as determined by Spearman rank correlation test; P, probability that the observed correlation is due to chance alone; unchanged, no significant correlation with age and P > 0·05.