ABSTRACT
Aspects of mucosal permeability barrier function or the presence of local inflammation might affect the intestinal response to such luminal agents, resulting in containment or amplification of injurious conditions. The intestinal epithelial cell acts as both barrier and interpreter between the luminal environment and other intestinal cells via a series of complex interactions. One class of luminal agents to which the intestinal mucosa is exposed are bacterial products, among which are a number of small peptides chemoattractant for inflammatory cells. Bacterial chemotactic peptide induction of colitis may depend on a different primary defect, such as permeability, or be a result of increases in luminal concentrations of bacterial products, as in infection. The ability of a variety of cells types in the intestinal mucosa to respond to chemotactic peptides such as n-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenyl-alanine with the release of different profiles of prostaglandin and leukotriene products suggests that these products may have important local regulatory effects.
