In 54 children with coeliac disease, mild iron deficiency anaemia or evidence of iron deficiency without anaemia were common at the time of diagnosis. Treatment with a gluten-free diet without iron medication eliminated all evidence of iron deficiency and completely normalized laboratory values. Subsequent challenge with gluten resulted in the rapid reappearance of suboptimal iron balance as evidenced by a decrease in serum ferritin concentration.
Oxidative biotransformation of xenobiotics and endogenous substances involves glutathione in reduced form as an integral component through two mechanisms: glutathione peroxidase catalysing the reduction of hydrogen peroxide and organic hydroperoxides, and glutathione-S-transferases catalysing the conjugation of oxygenated derivatives with glutathione. We studied glutathione and glutathione-related enzyme activities in haemolysed venous blood samples from 49 healthy children and from 11 children with diabetes mellitus, 10 children with rheumatoid arthritis, seven children with active coeliac disease, and seven children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Among the healthy children glutathione content and the activities of glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione-S-transferase were unrelated to sex; age-dependent differences were also minor. The patients with diabetes mellitus had decreased activity of glutathione reductase. The patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia had increased activity of both glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase, possibly reflecting an adaptive response to free-radicals. The patients with active coeliac disease had control levels of all measured parameters of glutathione-related reactions indicating, since we earlier found decreased activities of glutathione peroxidase in intestinal mucosa of celiacs, that blood may not always reflect tissue-specific changes.
Naples, I t a l y .Transglutaminasc (TCases) a r e ca2+-dependent enzymes, which l i n k peptide-bound glutamine t o p r i m a r y amines. W
e found t h a t wheat g l i a d i n h , p u r l f i e d A -y l l a d i n and t h e i r d e r i v e d p e p t i c -t r y p t i c peptides a r e e f f e c t i v e acyl donor s u b s t r a t e f o r : 1 )TGase p u r i f i e d from guinea p i g l i v e r 2 ) TCase a c t i v i t y o f r a t small ~n t e s t i n e , measured b a t h i n jejunum s l~c e s and i n i n f l u x chambers, i n which o n l y t h e j e j u n a l mucosa was exposed t o t h e substrates. The enzyme a c t i v i t y i n j e j u n a l mucosa homoyenate, expressed as pmoi o f sperrnidine i n c o r p o r a t e d ~n t o N,N-dimethyiated casein /mg/hour, i s l o w a t b l r t h (0.10+0.02,mean+SD), increases up t o 0.31+0.065 a t 7-10 days and then decreases t o the a d u l t l e v e l (0.09+0.03) a t 15 days of aye. On t h e c o n t r a r y , t h e enzyme a c t i v~t y of subrnucosa+serosa 1 s from t h e 7 t h day a t values s i m i l a r t o t h a t o f t h e a d u l t intestine (0.5 and 0.8 r e s p e c t i v e l y ) . 50% of TGase a c t~v i t y was d e t e c t e d i n t h e p a r t i c u l a t e f r a c t i o n ( n o t containing brush border membranes) o f b o t h young and a d u l t r a t mucosa. These r e s u l t s a r e c o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h e hypothesis t h a t TCase a c t i v i t i e s may be i n v o l v e d i n the metabolism of g l l a d i n~ o r o f t h e i r peptides, i n t h e lumen o r i n t h e mucosa. The specific c e l l u l a r l o c a l iz a t i o n of t h e enzyme should be c l a r i f i e d .
JEJUNAL LYMPHOCYTE SUBSETS IN EIEALTBY AND COELIAC CHILDREN44 M V e r k a s a l o , A A r a t o , E S a v i l a h t i , V M T a i n i o C h i l d r e n ' s H o s p i t a l , U n i v e r s i t y of H e l s i n k i , F i n l a n d A p a n e l of m o n o c l o n a l a n t i b o d i e s was u s e d . t o d e t e r m i n e t h e d e n s i t i e s of T l y m p h o c y t e s u b s e t s i n 48 j e j u n a l b i o p s i e s o f 3 5 c h i l d r e n w i t h c o e l i a c d i s e a s e (CD), 2 0 on g l u t e nf r e e d i e t (GFD), 11 o n n o r m a l d i e t a n d 17 o n g l u t e n c h a ll e n g e (GCh): and of 13 h e a l t h y c o n t r o l s . In l a m i n a p r o p r i a t h e a g e o f t h e s u b j e c t had a g r e a t i n f l u e n c e o n t h e T c e l l d e n s i t i e s , w i t h t h e n u m b e r s d e c l i n i n g w i t h a g e a t a p a c e s i m i l a r t o t h a t i n p e r i p h e r a l b l o o d i n t h e c o n t r o l c h i ld r e n . The c o r r e l a t i o n w i t h t h e a g e was l e s s o b v i o u s i n CD p a t i e n t s . Among s u r f a c e and c r y p t i n t r a e p i t h e l i a l lymphoc y t e s (IEL) t h e T s u p p r e s s o r c e l l s p r e d o m i n a t e d , and t h e i r n u m b e r s w e r e s i g n i f i c a n t l y e l e v a t e d on GCh a s c o m p a r e d w i t h CD p a t i e n t s on GFD, o r t h e c o n t r o l s . The i n f l u e n c e of t h e a g e on ...
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