Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Quinton, Paul M
• Bijman, Jan

Titel

Higher Bioelectric Potentials Due to Decreased Chloride Absorption in the Sweat Glands of Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

Ist Teil von

• The New England journal of medicine, 1983-05, Vol.308 (20), p.1185-1189

Ort / Verlag

United States: Massachusetts Medical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

1983

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Patients with cystic fibrosis have characteristic disturbances in the electrolyte composition of their sweat, saliva, and pancreatic secretions. We studied the electrical properties of sweat glands in eight patients with cystic fibrosis and in seven normal volunteers to determine the basis of the well-documented inhibition of sodium absorption in this disease. The average electrical potential across 47 sweat glands in the patients was -66.3±2.1 mV, as compared with -29.8±3.2 mV for 39 glands in the normal controls (P<0.001). The average sweat-secretion rate in 33 glands from six patients was not significantly different from that in 34 glands from six controls, but average concentrations of sodium, chloride, and potassium were significantly higher in sweat droplets from the patients. Calculated rates of both sodium and chloride reabsorption were lower in sweat glands of patients than of normal controls, but chloride reabsorption was more markedly reduced than sodium reabsorption. We conclude that a decrease in epithelial permeability to chloride may explain the characteristic changes in sweat electrolytes in cystic fibrosis and could be a generalized abnormality in the disease. (N Engl J Med 1983; 308:1185–9.) Cystic fibrosis is one of the most common and life-threatening inherited diseases of whites. Although death usually results from pulmonary complications, the disease is uniquely characterized by disturbances in the electrolyte composition of affected exocrine glands. Characteristic abnormalities in the sweat, saliva, and pancreatic secretions have been recognized for many years, 1 but a cohesive physiologic explanation of these disturbances is lacking. A 1981 Journal article described increased bioelectric potentials across the respiratory mucosa of patients with cystic fibrosis that were interpreted as being due to accelerated sodium absorption across this epithelium. 2 We therefore thought it was important to examine the . . .