Crypts, definition

In those infections that are associated with enteropathy (exemplified by T. spiralis), no experimental manipulation has, until recently, been able to separate enteropathy and immune expulsion - if one is abrogated, so is the other. This chapter illustrates how the two processes can be separated, and discusses implications of this for understanding immune expulsion of gut nematodes and the prospects for anti-nematode vaccines that cause no ill effects at either the initial induction of immunity or the expression of protective responses. The definition of that which consitututes enteropathy may vary between authors, but we take as our primary definition the most destructive and quantifiable changes in intestinal tissue that are associated with expulsion, villus atrophy and crypt hyperplasia. 

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