Figure 3.

Occludin downregulation in inflammatory bowel disease is accompanied by reduced caspase-3 expression. (A) Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and immunofluorescent staining of occludin (green) and caspase-3 (green) in ileal biopsies from healthy control subjects and Crohn’s disease patients. E-cadherin (red) and nuclei (blue) are shown for reference. Bar = 50 μm. (B) Quantitative morphometry of occludin, caspase-3, and E-cadherin staining intensity within the intestinal epithelium. (C) Caspase-3 expression correlates with occludin expression (r² = 0.76). Originally published in Kuo et al.¹⁰¹