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Alterations in intestinal permeability

Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Alberta Canada

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J B Meddings
Department of Medicine, 2F1.30 Walter C Mackenzie, Health Sciences Center, 8440-112 St, Edmonton, Alberta Canada; jon.meddings@ualberta.ca

Keywords: intestinal permeability; inflammatory bowel disease; coeliac disease; diabetes

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The goal of this review is to describe barrier function of the intestine, the structure of the tight junction, methods to evaluate intestinal permeability, and most importantly the relevance of abnormal permeability to disease. In this context, we will also present an emerging paradigm regarding the genesis of autoimmune diseases and describe the data that supports this from the perspective of both human disease and animal models. While this is a complicated area there are several points worth remembering:

• epithelial permeability of the gastrointestinal tract can be evaluated in a site specific manner;
  
• increased intestinal permeability is observed in association with several autoimmune diseases. It is observed prior to disease and appears to be involved in disease pathogenesis;
  
• there are new and novel therapies directed at altering abnormally increased intestinal permeability and these may play a role in treating or preventing these diseases.
  

BARRIER FUNCTION
From the lower oesophageal sphincter to the . . . [Full text of this article]