Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 May;1165:267-73.

Barrier effects of nutritional factors.

Amasheh M, Andres S, Amasheh S, Fromm M, Schulzke JD. Department of Gastroenterology,Charité, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany. maren.amasheh@charite.de

High dietary intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with a reduced disease risk. Therefore, clinical interest is growing in therapies based on dietary supplements and effects of food components. Immune-modulatory and barrier-protective effects have been described for the amino acid glutamine and the trace element zinc. In Caco-2-cells, zinc is necessary to maintain the expression of proteins like ZO-1 and occludin, and experimental evidence exists that glutamine has enterocyte-protective effects and modulates intestinal barrier function in stressed animals and humans. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) improve paracellular permeability after IL-4 incubation. Enhancement of barrier properties by long-chain PUFA is discussed controversially, but a beneficial role preventing the redistribution of occludin and ZO-1 and reduction of epithelial resistance by IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha exists. In addition, a group of secondary plant compounds, the polyphenols, are supposed to be important in this respect. The flavonoid quercetin and its metabolite DHBA increased epithelial resistance of Caco-2-cells to 157 +/- 4% of control values, and DHBA up to 119 +/- 4% of control values, respectively. This is due to a 2.3 +/- 0.1-fold expression rate of the tight junction protein claudin-4.

PMID: 19538315 [PubMed - in process]

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