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Coeliac Disease: Gastrointestinal T

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Coeliac disease is a multisystem disease which mainly manifests in the gastrointestinal tract and is one of the most underdiagnosed hereditary autoimmune disorders (Green and Jones, 2016). In an autoimmune disease the body's immune system attacks its own tissues.
Small intestine is the section of digestive system that connects the stomach to the large intestine or colon. The villi, also known as the lining of the small intestine, enables us to digest and absorb nutrients necessary for the optimal functioning of the body.
Coeliac disease is described by the body causing damage or destroying the lining of the small intestine. Other organs of the body may potentially be affected as it progresses.
This damage is caused by gluten, a group of proteins found in wheat, barley and rye, and so in numerous foods that contain them such as breads, cakes, pastas, etc.
In people with coeliac disease, the immune system "sees" gluten as a foreign body …show more content…

EPIDEMIOLOGY
3. AETIOLOGY & PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
Gliadin is the most studied component found in gluten known to cause coeliac disease. There are proteins simular to gliadin found in rye (secalins) and barley (hordeins) which are toxic to coeliacs, and despite of being included in the term are not exactly glutens.
When the protein gets digested, it is broken down in the stomach and small intestine into single amino acids also known as dipeptides (two amino acid molecules) that are easily absorbed by the small intestine.
Gluten molecule is not digested well by humans, it is resistant to the enzymes which break down proteins (peptidases). Therefore, occurs the toxic fraction of gliadin - a long peptide chain made up of thirty-three amino acids. It gets into the lining of the intestine and underneath the epithelial cells lining the villi. In some people this gliadin fraction provokes an immunological reaction that causes the villi to be inflamed and destroyed. Gliadin fraction is the main environmental trigger and cause of coeliac

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