Figure 3.

Histology In the (10× and 40×) images of the sham group, the normal gastric wall with the various layers and interstitial spaces of the muscle layer containing native capillaries is visualized. The reduction in blood supply leads to an increase in inflammatory cells in the lamina propria of the mucosa with hyperplasia of the foveola and congested vessels. As the reduction of arterial flow to the gastric wall at the level of the mucosa increases, also the edema increases with expansion of the lamina propria and relative reduction in the number of glands. The inflammatory infiltrate does not appear to increase, as confirmed in the semiquantitative score representing the eosinophils infiltration. The images of the min IGP group show, at muscular level, in the interstices between myocytes, the presence of edema and an extensive inflammatory lymphocytic and granulocytic infiltrate with numerous eosinophils and neoformed vessels which sometimes resemble granulation tissue (10× and 40×). This aspect seems to change in the max IGP images where the muscular inflammatory infiltrate seems to decrease while maintaining the increase of the newly formed vessels as if they were stabilizing. This results in an increase in vessels at the expense of a greater inflammatory infiltrate. Or rather: with a slight reduction in blood supply, we have a greater acute and chronic inflammation with eosinophils and neoformed vessels, while with a greater reduction in blood supply we have a reduction in acute and chronic inflammation with eosinophils but not in neoformed vessels. The arrows in the 40× histological images indicate the eosinophils showing their bilobulate shape and reddish staining. Scale bar 100 µm displayed at the left bottom of the 10× and 40× histopathological images. ns: p-value > 0.05; *: p-value ≤ 0.05; **: p-value ≤ 0.01; ***: p-value ≤ 0.001.