Session 7 - Liver, gallbladder and pancreas 2 Flashcards
Outline 7 different “toxins” which we willfully put into our GI tract
- Chemical
- Bacteria
- Viruses
- Protozoa
- Nematodes (Roundworms)
- Cestodes (Tapeworms)
- Trematodes (flukes)
What are the two overall defence mechanisms available to the GI tract to defend it from toxins
• Innate
Adaptive
What are the two parts of the innate immune system?
- Physical
* Cellular
Describe 8 physical innate defences
- Sight/smell
- Memory
- Saliva
- Stomach acid
- Small intestine secretions
- Colonic mucus
- Anaerobic environment
- Peristalsis/Segmentation
How does sight/smell work as a physical innate defence?
• If food looks or smells bad you won’t eat it
How does memory work as a physical innate defence?
• If food tastes bad, you won’t eat it next time
Give three reasons saliva is an integral part of the physical innate defence of the GI tract?
- pH 7.0
- Contains lysozyme, lactoperoxidase, complement, IgA and polymorphs
- Washes toxins down into the stomach
What is the clinical condition in which there is reduced salivary flow?
Xerostomia
Give two causes of xerostomia
- Severe illness
* And/or dehydration
What does xerostomia cause?
- Microbial overgrowth in the mouth and dental caries
* Parotitis
What organism causes parotitis?
• Staph aureus
How does stomach acid serve as a physical innate defence?
• Low pH kills the majority of bacteria and viruses
What condition can make the stomach a less effective defence?
- Achlorhydria
* Makes more susceptible to shigellosis, cholera and salmonella infection
What can cause achlorhydria?
- Pernicous anaemia
- H2 antagonists
PPIs
What are people taking PPI’s more at risk of if they have achlorhydria if in hospital?
Clostridium difficile infection
Name three organisms resistant to stomach acid
- Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is resistant to gastric acid (Acid and alcohol fast bacterium)
- Enteroviruses - Hep A, Polio and Coxsackie are resistant to gastric acid
- Helicobacter Pylori produces urease which acts on urea to produce a protective cloud of pneumonia
What four properties of small intestinal secretions allow it to repel GI invaders
- Bile
- Proteolytic enzymes
- Lack of nutrients
Shedding of epithelial cells
How does the colonic mucus protect the GI system?
Separates epithelial wall from its contents
How does peristalsis/segmentation prevent GI disease?
• Normal intestinal transit time is 12-18 hours. If peristalsis slow, gut infections are prolonged.
Give five cellular innate defences of the GI tract
• Neutrophils • Macrophages ○ Kupfer cells in the liver • Natural killer cells • Tissue Mast Cells • Eosinophils ○ Parasitic infections
How does the hepatic portal system aid in GI defence
• All venous blood from the GI tract passes through the liver before returning to systemic circulation
Kupffer cells are specialised macrophages in the liver which clear debris and toxins
Outline three adaptive cellular defences of the GI tract
- B lymphocytes
- T lymphocytes
- Lympatic tissue
What do B lymphocytes do?
• Produce antibodies including IgA and IgE that are particularly effective against extracellular microbes
What do T lymphocytes do?
• Directed against intracellular organisms
What is mucosal associated lymphoid tissue in the GI tract called?
• GALT (Gut associated Lymphoid Tissue)
Give three locations of GALT
- Tonsils
- Peyer’s patches
- Appendix
How can the recruitment of mast cells at the site of an infection in the GI tract cause damage?
- Mast cells release histamine
- Massive vasodliation and increase in capillarly permeability
- Fluid loss and dehydration
Give a condition where mast cell release of histamine (along with intrinsic toxins) causes massive fluid loss
• Cholera
Give three conditions associated with GALT
- Tonsilitis
- Ilecaecal lymphatic tissue
- Appendicitis
Give two infections of the ileocaecal lymphatic tissue
• Mesenteric adenitis
Typhoid fever
What is mesenteric adenitis and what is it caused by?
• Inflammation of mesenteric GALT tissue
Caused by adenovirus/coxsackie virus
What are the main symptoms of mesenteric adenitis, and what can it be mistaken for?
- Right iliac fossa pain in children
* Appendicitis
What is typhoid fever?
- Caused by Salmonella Typhi
- Inflamed peyer’s patches in terminal ileum, can perforate and kill patients
- Intestinal peyer’s patches haemorrhage
Give three causes of appendicitis
- Lymphoid hyperplasia at the appendix base
- Faecolith obstruction
- Worm obstruction
Why is there a higher incidence of appendicitis during outbreaks of chicken pox?
• Lymphoid hyperplasia causes obstruction
Give three causes of gut ischaemia
- Arterial disease
- Systemic hypotension
Intestinal venous thrombosis
What does gut ischaemia lead to?
• Overwhelming sepsis and rapid death
What does liver failure increase one’s susceptibility to?
- Infections
- Toxins
- Drugs
- Hormones
What is an intrinsic affect of liver failure?
- Increased blood ammonia due to failure of the urea cycle
- Ammonia produced by colonic bacteria and deamination of amino aids
Can cause hepatic encephalopathy
Give five major causes of hepatic liver failure
• Viral hepatitis • Alcohol • Drugs ○ Paracetamol, halothane • Industrial solvents
Mushroom poisoning
What is the main cause of liver failure in the UK?
• Alcohol
What is cirrhosis?
• Hepatocellular necrosis followed by fibrosis
What does liver cirrhosis lead to?
• Portal venous hypertension, leading to prosystemic shunting and therefore toxin shunting
Give three conditions portosystemic shunting leads to
- Oesophageal varicies
- Haemorrhoids
- Caput medusa
Give the main tributaries of the hepatic portal vein
- Superior mesenteric vein
- Splenic vein
- Inferior mesenteric
What are bile pigments?
• Produced as a result of the break down of haemoglobin (bilirubin)
What is the lifecycle of bilirubin?
• Conjugated in the liver and secreted in the bild ot be excreted in the faeces
What occurs if bilirubin cannot be excreted?
• Accumulated in the tissues, causing jaundice
Give one hormone the liver breaks down
• Insulin
What is the most abundant plasma protein?
• Albumin
What is albumin essential for?
• Maintaining oncotic pressure for the distribution of body fluids
Name 7 coagulation factors produced by the liver
- I – Fibrinogen
- II – Prothrombin
- V
- VII
- IX
- X
- XI
- Protein C + S
- Antithrombin
What is thrombopoietin?
• A glycoprotein hormone that regulates the production of platelets by the bone marrow
How does the liver generate aminoacids?
• Transamination