Faecal excretion of brush border membrane enzymes in patients with Clostridium difficile diarrhoea.

PURPOSE

To look for the presence of intestinal brush border membrane (BBM) enzymes in the faecal samples of patients with Clostridium difficile association.

METHODS

One hundred faecal samples were investigated for C.difficile toxin (CDT). Simultaneous assays for faecal excretion of intestinal BBM enzymes viz., disaccharidases, alkaline phosphatase (AP) and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) were also done.

RESULTS

C. difficile toxin was detected in 25 (25%) of the samples with a titre ranging from 10 to 160. No significant difference (p>0.05) was seen between the CDT positive and negative groups with any of the disaccharidases studied. However, significant increase (p< 0.05) in the AP excretion was observed in the CDT positive patients compared to the CDT negative group. In contrast to this, a significant decrease (p< 0.001) in the LAP enzyme excretion was observed in the latter group.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study suggest that there is a significant disturbance in the intestinal BBM enzymes in patients with C. difficile diarrhoea.