[homer]

hi all- hope everyone is well. I know we've all discussed digestive enzymes here in the past. I thought maybe others would be interested in these two articles which mention testing methods that are relatively new.

Human Pancreatic Digestive Enzymes.

* Whitcomb DC,
* Lowe ME.

Departments of Medicine, Cell Biology and Physiology, and Human Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, whitcomb@dom.pitt.edu.

A primary function of the pancreas is to produce digestive enzymes that are delivered to the small intestine for the hydrolysis of complex nutrients. Much of our understanding of digestive enzymes comes from studies in animals. New technologies and the availability of the sequence of the human genome allow for a critical review of older reports and assumptions based on animal studies. This report updates our understanding of human pancreatic digestive enzymes with a focus on new insights into the biology of human proteases, lipases and amylases.

[Gastroenterological function tests in the GP's office]
[Article in German]

* Jablonowski H.

Klinikum Salzgitter GmbH. h.jablonowski@klinikum-salzgitter.de

Breath tests are quick, noninvasive, simple to perform and reliable. In particular in patients with diarrhea, bloating, nausea and uncharacteristic abdominal symptoms, the H2 breath test is highly useful. Using this procedure, malabsorption of various different carbohydrates, the absorptive performance of the upper abdominal tract, the orocecal transit time, or bacterial overgrowth in the small bowel, can be determined. Using 24-hour pH-metry, the acidity in the stomach and esophagus can be measured, and reflux disease, for example, diagnosed. Today, elevated fat in the stool is detected on the basis of the beta carotene level in the serum. Further function tests for the detection of pancreatic insufficiency, such as the determination of fecal pancreatic elastase, are also available.

PMID: 16612963 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Related Links

* Fecal elastase-1 determination: 'gold standard' of indirect pancreatic function tests? [Scand J Gastroenterol. 2001] PMID: 11589385
* [Breath tests in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases] [Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2005] PMID: 16137476
* Diagnostic accuracy of fecal elastase 1 assay in patients with pancreatic maldigestion or intestinal malabsorption: a collaborative study of the Italian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology. [Dig Dis Sci. 2001] PMID: 11414313
* Fecal elastase test: evaluation of a new noninvasive pancreatic function test. [Am J Gastroenterol. 1995] PMID: 7572904
* Radionuclide gastroesophageal motor studies. [J Nucl Med. 2004] PMID: 15181137
* See all Related Articles...

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[KimS]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing. It certainly gives a great 'jumping off' point to start figuring out enzymes.