INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH CROHNS-DISEASE AND ULCERATIVE-COLITIS AND THEIR FIRST DEGREE RELATIVES

Increased intestinal permeability in patients with Crohn's disease and their first degree relatives has been proposed as an aetiological fac tor. The nine hour overnight urinary excretion of polyethyleneglycol-4 00 (PEG-400) and three inert sugars (lactulose, l-rhamnose, and mannit ol) was used to test the permeation in 47 patients with Crohn's diseas e of whom 18 had at least one first degree relative with inflammatory bowel disease (2BD) and 52 patients with ulcerative colitis of whom 16 had at least one first degree relative with IBD. A total of 17 first degree relatives with IBD and 56 healthy first degree relatives were i ncluded. Thirty one healthy subjects not related to patients with IBD served as controls. No significant differences in PEG-400 permeation w ere found between the groups of patients, relatives, and controls, or between diseased and healthy relatives. The permeability to lactulose, rhamnose, and mannitol similarly did not differ between the three gro ups. This study challenges the previously reported findings of increas ed PEG-400 permeation in patients with Crohn's disease and in their he althy and diseased first degree relatives. There was no increase in pe rmeability in a similar group of ulcerative colitis patients and their families.