Secondary Disaccharidase Deficiency in Adult Celiac Disease (Nontropical Sprue) and Other Malabsorption States

Abstract

IN the absorption of disaccharides from the intestine, hydrolysis of the sugars into their component monosaccharides is necessary. Largely through the elegant studies of Crane and his associates,1 , 2 it is now recognized that this hydrolysis occurs not primarily in the lumen of the intestine as previously believed but more probably just within the epithelial cells of the mucosa. It has been demonstrated that the various specific hydrolytic enzymes (disaccharidases) are localized predominantly in the brush-border region (microvilli) of the mucosal cells.Over the past five years reports from a number of laboratories have shown the occurrence of primary or hereditary . . .