Abstract
My role today will be to review the clinical significance of endotoxin absorption from the gut and to expose the problem, to which we do not yet know the answer … how is endotoxin able to cross the gut mucosa? The endotoxins of Gram negative bacteria all have a similar structure. At one end of the tripartite molecule is an O-specific polysaccharide which is made up of repeating oligosaccharide units, in the middle is the common core polysaccharide and the really toxic end of the molecule is known as lipid A. This lipid A includes the fatty acids, lauric, myristic and palmitic acids attached to hydroxyl and amino groups on glucosamine. The lipid A is the part which attaches the molecule to the phospholipid of cell membranes. The overall action of endotoxin can be one of total destruction and in this respect the analogy of structure to a nuclear warhead is quite appropriate. The molecular weight is one million but it can be broken into units of 400 000 daltons size which still show biological activity.
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Wardle, E.N. (1978). A review of endotoxin and its absorption from the gut. In: Hemmings, W.A. (eds) Antigen Absorption by the Gut. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6609-6_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6609-6_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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