There are a number of different defmitions for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to be found in the literature. The defmition accepted by most researchers and clinicians is that the tenn inflammatory bowel disease comprises two, in practice, distinct entities: ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD)'. Both disorders are characterized by cbronic relapsing inflammation of parts of the gastrointestinal tract of unknown origin, causing abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Because of the recurrent pattern both diseases show signs of acute inflammation (e.g. influx of granulocytes out of the blood into the mucosa of the intestines) as well as signs of cbronic inflammation (e.g. infiltrates of lymphocytes and macrophages).

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Dutch Digestive Diseases Foundation (Maag Lever Darm Stichting), Astra Pharmaceutica B.V., Byk Nederland B.V., C.L.B. (Central Laboratory of the Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service)
P.R. Saxena (Pramod Ranjan) , J.H.P. Wilson (Paul)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
hdl.handle.net/1765/18197
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Madretsma, G. (1997, September 3). Immunopharmacology of inflammatory bowel disease : effects of glucocorticoids and nicotine on cytokine production. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/18197