Intestinal Permeability in Patients With Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Is There a Place for Glutamine Supplementation?

Abstract

We read with great interest the recent paper published by Zhou et al reporting that upregulation of miR29a in the colonic mucosa of patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) is responsible for claudin-1 and nuclear factor-κB-repressing factor reduction leading to increased intestinal permeability.1 These data have been confirmed in miR29-/- mice in both models: water avoidance stress and post-inflammatory colitis. In this paper1, Zhou et al also confirm previous studies showing an increased colonic2 and small intestinal3 permeability in IBS-D patients, with a reduced expression of tight junction proteins, particularly occludin and claudin-1.