Intestinal mucosal enzymes in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal metabolic disease.

The small intestinal mucosa is an actively metabolizing, rapidly proliferating, absorptive epithelium with nutritional and homeostatic functions. A metabolic dysfunction of this organ might, therefore, be expected to cause not only gastrointestinal dysfunction, but also systemic symptoms. Several diseases characterized by primary or secondary gastrointestinal metabolic alterations are discussed.