Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Dec 6;18(23):12836.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182312836.

Intestinal Barrier in Human Health and Disease

Natalia Di Tommaso  1 , Antonio Gasbarrini  1   2 , Francesca Romana Ponziani  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Intestinal Barrier in Human Health and Disease

Natalia Di Tommaso et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The intestinal mucosa provides a selective permeable barrier for nutrient absorption and protection from external factors. It consists of epithelial cells, immune cells and their secretions. The gut microbiota participates in regulating the integrity and function of the intestinal barrier in a homeostatic balance. Pathogens, xenobiotics and food can disrupt the intestinal barrier, promoting systemic inflammation and tissue damage. Genetic and immune factors predispose individuals to gut barrier dysfunction, and changes in the composition and function of the gut microbiota are central to this process. The progressive identification of these changes has led to the development of the concept of 'leaky gut syndrome' and 'gut dysbiosis', which underlie the relationship between intestinal barrier impairment, metabolic diseases and autoimmunity. Understanding the mechanisms underlying this process is an intriguing subject of research for the diagnosis and treatment of various intestinal and extraintestinal diseases.

Keywords: autoimmunity; dysbiosis; endotoxemia; gut vascular barrier; gut–brain axis; gut–liver axis; intestinal barrier; microbiota.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Intestinal barrier composition. SCFAs: Short chain fatty acids; M-Cells: Microfold cells; PSA: Polysaccharide A; AMPs: antimicrobial peptides; sIgA: secretory IgA.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Gut–liver axis in the evolution of liver cirrhosis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Factors contributing to intestinal barrier impairment and systemic diseases. HFD: high fat diet; LPS: lipopolysaccharide; GVB: gut vascular barrier; TLRs: toll-like receptors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Farhadi A., Banan A., Fields J., Keshavarzian A. Intestinal barrier: An interface between health and disease. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2003;18:479–497. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1746.2003.03032.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vemuri R., Shankar E.M., Chieppa M., Eri R., Kavanagh K. Beyond Just Bacteria: Functional Biomes in the Gut Ecosystem Including Virome, Mycobiome, Archaeome and Helminths. Microorganisms. 2020;8:483. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8040483. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Forster S.C., Browne H., Kumar N., Hunt M., Denise H., Mitchell A., Finn R., Lawley T.D. HPMCD: The database of human microbial communities from metagenomic datasets and microbial reference genomes. Nucleic Acids Res. 2016;44:D604–D609. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkv1216. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adak A., Khan M.R. An insight into gut microbiota and its functionalities. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 2019;76:473–493. doi: 10.1007/s00018-018-2943-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vancamelbeke M., Vermeire S. The intestinal barrier: A fundamental role in health and disease. Expert Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2017;11:821–834. doi: 10.1080/17474124.2017.1343143. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources