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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jun 21.
Published in final edited form as: J Theor Biol. 2010 Apr 1;264(4):1225–1239. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.03.027

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Timecourse of fluctuations in select populations. A) Homeostasis: In the absence of an inflammatory response to bacteria in the lumen, the epithelial cell barrier remains intact and epithelial cells do not secrete inflammatory factors. Deactivating cytokines and induced T-regulatory cells are maintained at a basal level while activating cytokines and inflammatory T-helper cells are absent. Bacteria is compartmentalized to the lumen with no detectable invasion of the lamina propria (LP). B) Dysentery: The extended model that includes pathogenic bacteria that triggers an inflammatory response in macrophages and dendritic cells, epithelial cell erosion is seen as inflammatory markers rise in conjunction with translocation of bacteria into the LP. C) Chronic Inflammation: When a small fraction (0.0001) of bacteria in the lumen triggers an inflammatory response in macrophages and dendritic cells, the total epithelial cell population remains reduced in conjunction with elevated inflammatory markers and continued migration of bacteria into the lamina propria where it is readily eliminated by immune cells. This is typically seen in cases of inflammatory bowel disease.