• Mitchell P Fink.
• Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15260, USA. finkmp@ccm.upmc.edu
• Curr Opin Crit Care. 2003 Apr 1; 9 (2): 143-51.

Purpose Of ReviewTight junctions between adjacent epithelial cells are essential for the maintenance of compositionally distinct fluid compartments in various organs, such as the liver, lungs, kidneys, and intestine. These epithelial organs are commonly affected in the condition known as multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, which can complicate the clinical course of patients with sepsis or other conditions associated with poorly controlled systemic inflammation. The gut serves as a useful model for this problem, and studies using reductionist in vitro models and experiments carried out using laboratory animals are starting to clarify the cellular and biochemical mechanisms that are responsible for intestinal epithelial hyperpermeability secondary to critical illness.Recent FindingsOne key factor that has been identified is excessive production of nitric oxide and related species, although other factors, such as increased expression of the cytokine interleukin 6, appear to be important as well. A newly described, cytokine-like molecule, high-mobility group B1, increases permeability of cultured epithelial monolayers in vitro and murine ileal mucosa in vivo.SummaryEpithelial dysfunction may be a common final pathway contributing to organ dysfunction in sepsis and other forms of critical illness.Copyright 2003 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

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