[Prostaglandins and cyclic nucleotides in the gastrointestinal form of yersiniosis].

In spite of the resemblance of the clinical picture of gastrointestinal yersiniosis and acute dysentery, material differences underlie the pathogenesis of these diseases. Yersiniosis is marked by the predominance of an increase in the content of PGF2 alpha, whereas acute dysentery by an increase in the content of PGE, which may be accounted for by greater intensity of the allergic manifestations in yersiniosis patients as compared with dysentery. Shigellosis runs its course in the presence of the prevailing influence of the guanylate cyclase system, whereas yersiniosis in that of the adenylate cyclase. This is likely to be related to graver destructive lesions in the colonic mucosa in acute dysentery.