PASSAGE OF NATIVE PROTEINS THROUGH THE NORMAL GASTRO-INTESTINAL WALL 1

Abstract

The anaphylaxis test was employed to show that a non-toxic protein food (milk) orally administered to guinea pigs, might pass the intact intestinal wall unchanged under normal conditions. Mature and young animals were sensitized and shocked by oral administration of this protein. The incidence in a large series of animals was as high as 50%. In man, this phenomenon was demonstrated by use of the Prausnitz-Kustner test; proteins, natural as well as foreign to the diet, passed the intestinal wall unchanged and entered the blood stream under physiologic conditions at all ages. Although abnormal or pathologic conditions of the intestinal mucosa increase intestinal permeability and facilitate the passage of proteins in, a native state, these exps. indicate that, under normal conditions, absorption of unaltered protein occurs with greater regularity than is generally held. This normal absorption may conceivably serve to maintain a constant state of immunization against habitual protein diets.