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Updated: May 5, 2026

An Intravital Microscopy-Based Approach to Assess Intestinal Permeability and Epithelial Cell Shedding Performance
Published on: December 3, 2020
Increased intestinal permeability to oral chromium (51 Cr) -EDTA in human Type 2 diabetes
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, UK.
Objective:
In animal models of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, permeability of the intestine is increased because of impairment of tight junction proteins, allowing translocation of bacterial endotoxin and resulting in low-grade systemic inflammation. This has yet to be demonstrated in humans. The objective of this study was the demonstration of increased intestinal permeability in human Type 2 diabetes.
Methods:
We examined intestinal permeability using chromium ((51) Cr)-EDTA urinary recovery in twenty well-controlled men with Type 2 diabetes compared with control subjects matched for age, gender and BMI.
Results:
Intestinal permeability was significantly increased (P = 0.002) in the diabetic group and was correlated to increased levels of systemic inflammatory markers high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (r = 0.694, P = 0.001), interleukin 6 (r = 0.548, P = 0.012) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (r = 0.564, P = 0.010).
Conclusion:
This is the first demonstration that increased intestinal permeability may be a feature of human Type 2 diabetes.
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