Rectum: HIV-related enteropathy

HIV-related enteropathy This is a high power view of a rectal biopsy section from an HIV-positive adult with diarrhoea. It shows apoptoses as blue (haematoxyphilic) spots in place of normal epithelial cell nuclei. Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death with nuclear disintegration, which does not induce an inflammatory reaction. It is possible that natural killer T-cells caused the death of these epithelial cells. (Apart for HIV disease, apoptosis is only seen in the bowel in graft-versus-host disease). H&E stain. See also image W0043170.