Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. May 15, 2016; 7(2): 223-234
Published online May 15, 2016. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v7.i2.223
Sieving characteristics of cytokine- and peroxide-induced epithelial barrier leak: Inhibition by berberine
Katherine M DiGuilio, Christina M Mercogliano, Jillian Born, Brendan Ferraro, Julie To, Brittany Mixson, Allison Smith, Mary Carmen Valenzano, James M Mullin
Katherine M DiGuilio, Christina M Mercogliano, Brittany Mixson, Allison Smith, Mary Carmen Valenzano, James M Mullin, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood, PA 19096, United States
Jillian Born, Brendan Ferraro, Julie To, Departments of Biology and Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States
Author contributions: DiGuilio KM, Mercogliano CM, Born J, Ferraro B, To J, Mixson B, Smith A, Valenzano MC conducted experiments described in this study; DiGuilio KM and Mullin JM wrote the initial draft of the paper and analyzed the data; Mullin JM suggested experimental directions.
Institutional review board statement: No human subjects were used in this study.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: No animals were used in this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors of this manuscript have any conflicts of interest, financial or non-financial to declare.
Data sharing statement: Additional data will be shared upon request concerning the action of other micronutrients on cytokine and peroxide-induced leak across gastrointestinal cell layers.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: James M Mullin, PhD, AGAF, Professor, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Lankenau Medical Center, 100 Lancaster Avenue, Wynnewood, PA 19096, United States. mullinj@mlhs.org
Telephone: +1-484-4762708 Fax: +1-484-4762205
Received: December 30, 2015
Peer-review started: January 2, 2016
First decision: February 2, 2016
Revised: March 1, 2016
Accepted: March 17, 2016
Article in press: March 18, 2016
Published online: May 15, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: A cell culture model of graded transepithelial leak can be very valuable in evaluating the various types and magnitudes of leak that can exhibit across the inflammatory bowel disease mucosa. This graded leak can be achieved through various combinations of proinflammatory cytokines and peroxide. Berberine provides an example of a micronutrient that can be more effective against one type of induced leak than another.