The leptin defense against wasting is abolished in the IL-2-deficient mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease.

Anorexia is a major complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We postulated that chronic intestinal inflammation with increased proinflammatory cytokines elevates serum leptin concentration, thereby contributing to anorexia. This hypothesis was studied in interleukin-2-deficient (IL-2(-/-)) mice, a model of IBD with elevated proinflammatory cytokine production.

Inflammatory diseases of the colon.

Preview Symptoms of inflammatory diseases of the colon can be numerous and varied, ranging from the slight rectal bleeding of proctitis to the abdominal tenderness, bloody diarrhea, fever, dehydration, and orthostasis of fulminant colitis. The authors discuss how symptoms and other findings guide the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, infectious colitis, colonic ischemia and vasculitis, and other types of colitis. They also summarize treatment methods.