Increased intestinal macromolecular permeability and urine nitrite excretion associated with liver cirrhosis with ascites

Table 1 Demographics and characteristics of the subjects (mean ± SE )

	Cirrhotics with ascites (n = 26)	Cirrhotics without ascites (n = 27)	Healthy controls (n = 26)
Age (yr)	54.7 ± 9.6	53.9 ± 9.7	50.3 ± 9.2
Sex (M/F)	23/3	21/6	17/9
Etiology
Alcohol	16	15
Viral1	9	12
Alcohol/viral2	1	0
Child class (A/B/C)	1/16/9	22/5/0
Child-Pugh score	8.8 ± 0.44b	6.3 ± 0.34
Serum albumin (g/dL)	2.8 ± 0.11b	3.5 ± 0.12
Serum bilirubin (mg/dL)	5.1 ± 0.92b	2.0 ± 0.43
Prothrombin time (s)	15.7 ± 0.50a	14.3 ± 0.40
AST (IU/L)	78.3 ± 9.45	74.8 ± 11.4
ALT (IU/L)	34.1 ± 4.8	51.5 ±8.9
Encephalopathy	9a	2
Esophageal varix	11	9

¹Viral etiology-cirrhosis with ascites (HBV-6, HCV-3) and cirrhosis without ascites (HBV-8, HCV-4);

²Viral etiology-HBV-1.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs cirrhosis without ascites.

Table 2 Intestinal permeability, serum TNF-α and urine nitrite levels in the healthy control subjects and cirrhotic patients (mean ± SE )

	Cirrhotics with ascites (n = 26)	Cirrhotics without ascites (n = 27)	Healthy controls (n = 26)
PEG400	37.4 ± 3.55	44.1 ± 5.17	46.5 ± 3.22
PEG3350	0.31 ± 0.04	0.21 ± 0.02	0.24 ± 0.03
IPI	0.88 ± 0.12a	0.53 ± 0.03	0.52 ± 0.05
Nitrite	1170.9 ± 28.7a	956.7 ± 47.7	903.1 ± 55.1
TNF-α	32.1 ± 13.3	198.9 ± 55.8a	40.9 ± 12.3

PEG: Polyethylene glycol; IPI: Intestinal permeability index.

^aP < 0.05.

Table 3 Analysis relating intestinal permeability, nitrite level and TNF-α level to the clinical and laboratory findings in the cirrhotic patients (mean ± SE )

	n	PEG400	PEG3350	IPI (%)	Nitrite (&mgr;mol/L)	TNF-α(pg/mL)
Child-Pugh classification
A	23	42.6 ± 5.7	0.20 ± 0.02	0.52 ± 0.04	1137.3 ± 45.4	218.8 ± 43.4a
B	21	38.6 ± 4.4	0.25 ± 0.03	0.72 ± 0.07	967.7 ± 67.5	78.9 ± 26.3
C	9	41.5 ± 6.0	0.42 ± 0.08a	1.12 ± 0.27a	1086.3 ± 36.4	17.7 ± 3.1
Serum albumin (g/dL)
> 3.4	16	41.4 ± 4.9	0.23 ± 0.03	0.52 ± 0.05	1013.2 ± 65.7	183.6 ± 43.5
< 3.4	37	40.6 ± 4.0	0.27 ± 0.02a	0.78 ± 0.08a	1114.7 ± 43.6	105.8 ± 28.4a
Serum bilirubin (mg/dL)
> 1.2	33	44.7 ± 4.5	0.29 ± 0.03	0.76 ± 0.09	1078.1 ± 45.7	76.6 ± 18.4
< 1.2	20	34.4 ± 3.7	0.20 ± 0.03	0.60 ± 0.07	1049.6 ± 61.2	216.3 ± 51.2
Prothrombin time (s)
> 13	43	40.66 ± 3.6	0.27 ± 0.03	0.75 ± 0.07	1052.6 ± 40.4	121.2 ± 26.8
< 13	10	41.56 ± 7.0	0.21 ± 0.03	0.50 ± 0.07	1074.9 ± 88.8	163.8 ± 55.4
Encephalopathy
No	42	41.58 ± 3.79	0.24 ± 0.02	0.67 ± 0.07	1097.6 ± 41.48	139.1 ± 27.52
Yes	11	37.98 ± 5.00	0.33 ± 0.04	0.82 ± 0.13a	1030.0 ± 77.84	91.9 ± 49.89
Esophageal varix
No	33	42.6 ± 4.54	0.24 ± 0.03	0.72 ± 0.08	1119.9 ± 39.7	145.6 ± 33.74
Yes	20	37.86 ± 3.16	0.29 ± 0.03	0.67 ± 0.10	1007.7 ± 70.1	102.4 ± 31.30

PEG: Polyethylene glycol; IPI: Intestinal permeability index.

^aP < 0.05.