Abstract
Extract: The in vitro electrical properties of rat jejunum were utilized to assay a factor or factors in serum from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Sera from patients with CF were found to decrease short circuit current (SCC) and the SCC response to glucose, and to increase electrical resistance.
These effects were present in all 24 patients with CF and 10 of 14 parents of CF patients and absent from the serum of 21 control subjects. This quantitative technique provides an alternative to the ciliostatic assays for the detection of the CF factor or factors.
Speculation: This technique may provide a good model system for assaying tissues for the presence of the CF factor. It may prove of invaluable assistance to the geneticist in providing meaningful counseling, especially to unaffected siblings of patients with CF. Perhaps what we are measuring is the effect of one or more factors, variously called the Spock factor, ciliotoxic factor, or Mangos factor.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Araki, H., Field, M. & Shwachman, H. A New Assay for Cystic Fibrosis Factor: Effects of Sera from Patients with Cystic Fibrosis in the in Vitro Electrical Properties of Rat Jejunum. Pediatr Res 9, 932–934 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197512000-00014
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197512000-00014