Fig. 4

Relationship between degree of spirochetal crypt involvement and the inflammation parameters. Specimens were classified into three groups, as follows: (−) absence of spiral organisms, (+) if a few crypts in the superficial half of the mucosa contained them, (2+) if crypts in the deeper half of the mucosa or several crypts contained them. The degree of spirochetal involvement within crypt lumens in the samples did not affect the values obtained for stromal eosinophil, neutrophil, or mast cell count (sEo, sNeu, and sMast, respectively) (A-C). The same spirochetal invasion parameter did not influence the intraepithelial eosinophil count (iEo) (D), but spirochetal presence within crypt lumens did increase the intraepithelial neutrophil count (iNeu) [E; crypt (−) vs. crypt (+), p = 0.02]. HPF: high power field