Abstract
ABSTRACTIncreased intestinal barrier permeability has been correlated with aging and disease, including type 2 diabetes, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis and irritable bowel syndrome. The prevalence of these ailments has risen together with an increase in industrial food processing and food additive consumption. Additives, including sugar, metal oxide nanoparticles, surfactants and sodium chloride, have all been suggested to increase intestinal permeability. We used two complementary model systems to examine the effects of food additives on gut barrier function: a Drosophila in vivo model and an in vitro human cell co-culture model. Of the additives tested, intestinal permeability was increased most dramatically by high sugar. High sugar also increased feeding but reduced gut and overall animal size. We also examined how food additives affected the activity of a gut mucosal defense factor, intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP), which fluctuates with bacterial load and affects intestinal permeability. We found that high sugar reduced IAP activity in both models. Artificial manipulation of the microbiome influenced gut permeability in both models, revealing a complex relationship between the two. This study extends previous work in flies and humans showing that diet can play a role in the health of the gut barrier. Moreover, simple models can be used to study mechanisms underlying the effects of diet on gut permeability and function.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
Highlights
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the largest surface within the human body exposed to the external environment, and the GI epithelium is composed of a single continuous layer of cells
Dietary additives affect intestinal integrity in vivo Rera et al developed a non-invasive in vivo assay to test intestinal integrity in Drosophila using a nonabsorbable blue food dye [The United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) blue dye #1] (Rera et al, 2011, 2012)
Young adult flies of the common laboratory strain w1118 were transferred to diets containing FD&C blue dye #1, which can be observed in the gut of a live fly shortly after ingestion (Rera et al, 2011, 2012)
Summary
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the largest surface within the human body exposed to the external environment, and the GI epithelium is composed of a single continuous layer of cells. The main function of the GI tract is to act as a selective barrier that protects against potentially harmful luminal content such as foreign antigens and toxins, while simultaneously allowing nutrients and water to pass through the. We were interested in testing whether these additives could affect intestinal permeability using model systems
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