Inflammatory bowel disease, light micrograph - stock photo

Light micrograph of crypt architectural distortion in inflammatory bowel disease. One of the hallmarks of inflammatory bowel disease microscopically is the distortion of the normal architecture of the colonic crypts. The crypts are the structures containing many goblet cells (light blue round to ovoid dots). The crypts are haphazardly arranged with variable space in between them and take on irregular configurations with bends and branches. The space in between the crypts is the lamina propria which contains inflammatory cells (many small dark blue dots). The horizontal pink band at the very bottom of the picture is the muscularis mucosa, or the layer of smooth muscle separating the crypt containing mucosa from deeper layers of the large bowel wall. Haematoxylin and eosin stained tissue section. Magnification: 100x when printed at 10cm