LEUKOTRIENE B-4 AND C-4 METABOLISM IN SMALL-INTESTINE MUCOSA OF CHILDREN WITH CELIAC-DISEASE

The enhanced generation of eicosanoids, including leukotrienes (LTs), may be involved in the pathophysiology of small intestine mucosal inju ry in patients with celiac disease. We investigated the metabolism of LTB(4) and LTC(4) by small intestine mucosa in patients with celiac di sease by incubating biopsies of small intestine mucosa from patients a nd healthy subjects in media containing LTB(4) and LTC(4) and measurin g the changes in LTB(4) and cysteinyl LT concentrations in the incubat ion media. There was no significant degradation of LTB(4) during a 60- min incubation of the small intestine mucosa from either children with celiac disease or controls. LTC(4) was metabolized to LTD(4) and LTE( 4) in a time-dependent manner by the small intestine mucosa of both pa tients and controls. However, the decreases in LTC(4) and the increase s in LTD(4) and LTE(4) by the intestinal mucosa from patients with cel iac disease occurred more slowly than the changes observed in control experiments. Reduced catabolism of LTC(4) in the small intestine mucos a due to villous atrophy may contribute to increased levels of LTC(4) and may play an important role in the pathophysiology of celiac diseas e.