Small intestinal villous pattern and mucosal dynamics in healthy Jamaicans

Twenty intestinal biopsy specimens from Jamaican subjects who did not have evidence of gastrointestinal disease were examined under the dissecting microscope and histologically. The appearances were normal in all 20. The most common finding was a mixture of finger- and leaf-shaped villi. Histologically, the biopsy specimens were also normal, consisting of long slender villi with short crypts and very few inflammatory cells. The crypt length; adult crypt cell ratio, mitotic index and turnover time were normal. These findings indicate that the set of circumstances causing and perpetuating the abnormalities seen in the jejunal biopsies of subjects living in the tropics, do not exist in Jamaica, and that the small intestinal villous appearance and mucosal dynamics in the healthy Jamaican Negro are similar to those of Europeans and North Americans.