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Biomedical subjects

P E Jones

Publications and source records attributed to P E Jones.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Morphological and biochemical findings in jejunal biopsies from patients with multiple sclerosis.

Gluten withdrawal from the diet is occasionally used speculatively in the management of multiple sclerosis. To assess whether there might be any rational basis for such a measure we have undertaken morphological and biochemical studies of the jejunal mucosa in 14 patients with multiple sclerosis. All were found to have morphologically normal villi, and quantitative estimation of surface-to-volume ratios gave values which did not differ from control subjects. Intraepithelial lymphocyte counts were normal. Antigliadin antibody titres were not raised in any patient. Estimation of activity of the brush border disaccharidases (sucrase, lactase, and maltase (showed that the mean level of each enzyme did not differ significantly from control subjects. Analytical subcellular fractionation of the biopsies showed no changes in the distribution or activity of marker enzymes for the brush order, lysosomes, mitochondria, cytosol, peroxisomes, or endoplasmic reticulum. It is concluded that there are no gross morphological or biochemical abnormalities in the jejunal mucosa in patients with multiple sclerosis and, therefore, that the use of gluten-free diets cannot be justified on the assumption that these patients suffer from a coeliac-like lesion of the small intestine.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Analytical subcellular fractionation of jejunal biopsy specimens: enzyme activities, organelle pathology and response to corticosteroids in patients with non-responsive coeliac disease.

1. Jejunal biopsies from five patients with non-responsive coeliac disease have been subjected to analytical subcellular fractionation and enzymic microassay in order to compare the organelle pathology of this group with untreated but glutensensitive patients. 2. Compared with the gluten-sensitive group these non-responsive patients showed marked reduction of the endoplasmic reticulum enzymes, normal activities of lysosomal enzymes and slightly less severely reduced brush border activities. 3. It is suggested that the present biochemical studies in combination with previous clinical reports and measurements of DNA and protein synthesis by cultured mucosal biopsies delineate non-responsive coeliac disease as a distinct entity. 4. The patients were treated with oral prednisolone (20 mg daily) for between 5 and 9 weeks and the properties of the jejunal biopsies restudied. 5. Although morphologically there was only a partial restoration of the villus architecture the enzymic alterations and organelle abnormalities returned essentially to normal values.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Masked primary (or tertiary) hyperparathyroidism.

Two patients are described in whom the preliminary clinical and laboratory investigations suggested a diagnosis of osteomalacia, from gluten-sensitive enteropathy in one and from anticonvulsant therapy in the other. However, when the primary disease was corrected by diet and extra vitamin D, respectively, both patients developed hypercalcaemia. A standard hydrocortisone test in the second patient failed to reduce the hypercalcaemia. In both patients parathyroid tumours were found at operation. It is suggested that both patients had tertiary hyperparathyroidism in which the normally tell-tale hypercalcaemia was at first masked by the other abnormalities, and that this masking may account for some cases reported as having normocalcaemic primary (or tertiary) hyperpatathyroidism. Interpretation of total plasma-calcium is likely to be unreliable unless the 25-hydroxyvitamin-D levels can be shown or assumed to be normal.

Adenoma↗