Alkaline phosphatase levels in normal and diseased small bowel.

Since the introduction of peroral biopsy of the small intestine (Shiner, 1956; Crosby and Kugler, 1957) there has been growing interest in intestinal enzymes as well as morphology. The disaccharidases have received most attention, but many other enzymes, including alkaline phosphatase, are present in the small intestinal mucosa. There are few reports on human intestinal alkaline phosphatase and its function is not yet completely understood. Bolt, Pollard, and McCool, (1960), using histochemical techniques on peroral biopsy tissue, identified alkaline phosphatase in the epithelial cell and brush border. They stated that enzyme activity was diminished in patients with 'primary sprue'. Plosscowe, Berg, and Segal (1963), also using a histological technique, found no significant difference in alkaline phosphatase activity between the jejunal biopsy specimens of 20 normals, 10 patients with primary malabsorption (nontropical sprue), and two with pernicious anaemia. In this study we have established a range of alkaline phosphatase values for normal human jejunum, and report the deviations from normal when the histology of the jejunum is abnormal.