Clinical studies of intestinal folate conjugases

Clinical differences between the two human intestinal mucosal folate conjugases were assessed by measurement of their activities in normal individuals and in patients with chronic diarrhea of differing causes. Intracellular folate conjugase (ICFC) was 15-fold more active than brush border folate conjugase (BBFC) in jejunal mucosa from seven obese patients undergoing elective gastric bypass surgery. The activity of ICFC was similar among normal volunteers and patients with diarrhea of unknown origin (DUO), gluten-sensitive enteropathy (GSE), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and the short bowel syndrome (IBD-SBS). By contrast, BBFC, sucrase, and lactase were decreased significantly in GSE, and BBFC was increased in IBD-SBS. The activity of BBFC correlated with lactase and with sucrase in the normal subjects and in patients with DUO, whereas no correlations were found with the activity of ICFC in any group. Our clinical studies confirm that ICFC and BBFC are different enzymes. ICFC is not affected by intestinal disease, whereas the activity of jejunal BBFC, like that of other brush border enzymes, is decreased by mucosal injury and is also capable of adapting to distal small intestinal disease or surgical resection.