Assessing the permeability of the gastrointestinal mucosa after oral administration of phenolsulfonphthalein.
OBJECTIVE
In this study, the oral phenolsufonphthalein (PSP) absorption test as a simple and non-invasive method for the assessment of either the extent of the permeability of or damage to the gastrointestinal mucosa was evaluated.


METHODS
The permeability of the gastrointestinal mucosa of patients with liver cirrhosis and those who underwent gastrointestinal surgery was assessed by the oral administration of 30 mg of PSP and the measurement of its urinary recovery rate.


RESULTS
The urinary PSP excretion in patients with liver cirrhosis (n = 8; 28.8 +/- 6.0%) was significantly higher than that of patients who underwent vascular surgery (n = 8; 10.0 +/- 1.7%) (p < 0.01), which thus suggested an increased permeability of the gastrointestinal mucosa in patients with liver cirrhosis. The urinary PSP excretion rate in patients who underwent a total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction (n = 5) was 17.3 +/- 1.7% which was significantly higher than that observed in the control (p < 0.05), while the same rates in patients who underwent a partial gastrectomy (n = 10) or colectomy (n = 10) were 10.2 +/- 1.8% or 10.6 +/- 0.7%, respectively, which suggested that the intestinal mucosa is damaged by a total resection of the stomach.


CONCLUSIONS
The oral PSP absorption test, which is non-invasive, simple and inexpensive, is thus considered to be useful for assessing the degree of damage to or the permeability of the gastrointestinal mucosa under various conditions.
Toh
Y
Y
Department of Surgery, Fukuoka City Hospital, Japan.
Korenaga
D
D
Maekawa
S
S
Matsumata
T
T
Muto
Y
Y
Ikeda
T
T
Sugimachi
K
K
D000042:Absorption; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003082:Colectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000652:urine; D008875:Middle Aged; D010539:Permeability; D010637:Phenolsulfonphthalein / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D004396:Coloring Agents; D010637:Phenolsulfonphthalein