With evidence that the intestines naturally mediate their own permeability by releasing
zonulin from the gut wall, researchers were finally able to gain a deeper understanding of what causes a leaky gut.
Not exact matches
But, that's actually because gluten activates
zonulin, the gate keeper of your gut's lining that separates your food
from your blood - brain barrier.
Tight junctions, regulated by a molecule called
zonulin, as well as by conformational changes in the proteins occludin and claudin, are dynamic intercellular structures that modulate the trafficking or passage of macromolecules
from the intestinal lumen to the submucosa and into systemic circulation (Fasano, 2012).
Gluten should be eliminated
from the diet, it has been shown to increase *
zonulin which increases * the permeability of the tight junctions, causing the blood brain barrier to break down.
Another study published in 2006 in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology Journal found that gliadin which is a protein present in wheat and gluten increases *
zonulin; when
zonulin increases *, it makes the tight junctions more permeable preventing it
from working properly leading to a leaky gut and a leaky brain.
For example, a close look at the data
from one study finds that only 42 percent of the patients with type 1 diabetes had an elevated serum
zonulin level (defined as 2 standard deviations above the control group mean)(13).
Using the more lucrative mass spectrometry, Scheffler et al. discovered that a popular ELISA kit
from Germany was mainly capturing the
zonulin analog properdin (19).
Upon insult to the intestine,
zonulin is released
from epithelial cells, where it can act locally on receptors on the apical (lumen - facing) membrane of nearby cells.
Though
zonulin is cleared rapidly
from circulation, the presence of
zonulin in the blood triggers an immune response and the production of
zonulin - specific antibodies.