Loss of CD117 (c-kit)- and CD34-Positive ICC and Associated CD34-Positive Fibroblasts Defines a Subpopulation of Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-obstruction

Chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudo-obstruction is a syndrome in which symptoms of intestinal obstruction are present in the absence of mechanical obstruction. Lack of normal pacemaker activity, usually generated by the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), could account for the apparent obstruction. ICC are normally located around and between the myenteric plexus ganglia and within muscle and also in the deep muscular plexus of the small bowel …