Increased Intestinal Permeability to (51 Cr) EDTA Is Correlated with IgA Immune Complex‐Plasma Levels in Children with IgA‐Associated Nephropathies

Intestinal permeability was investigated in 10 normal young adults, in 11 control children and in 9 children presenting with either Berger disease (4 cases) or Henoch-Schönlein nephritis (5 cases), making use of (51 Cr) EDTA as a probe molecule. All subjects exhibited a normal creatinine clearance at the time of testing. After oral administration of (51 Cr) EDTA, 24-hour urine radioactivity was measured and results were expressed in percentage of the oral dose administered. Means and SD were 2.35% +/- 0.77, 2.51% +/- 0.70, and 5.10% +/- 2.35 for normal adults, control children and patients with IgA-associated nephropathies, respectively. The differences of permeability between controls and patients were statistically significant (p less than 0.01). In addition, a significant, direct, linear correlation has been established between the percentage of (51 Cr) EDTA excreted in 24-hour urine and IgA immune complex-plasma levels. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that increased gut permeability could play a role in the pathogenesis of IgA-associated nephropathies.