Low levels of manganese may worsen inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
- Manganese is a micronutrient “whose dietary consumption has declined by more than 40% over the past 15 years in developed countries.”
- Manganese deficiency may be responsible for weakening the intestinal epithelial barrier, a study suggests.
- These low levels of manganese are thought to cause or worsen inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Manganese is essential for many physiological functions, including immune responses, bone formation, and carbohydrate metabolism. This micronutrient, found in the body, in foods, and in other minerals, is abundant in plant-based foods, such as whole grains, legumes, oilseeds, and vegetables. However, current diets based on animal-based foods (meat, fish, eggs, dairy) lack adequate amounts of manganese. Some people, particularly those with a genetic variant of SLC39A8, or ZIP8, may therefore be deficient in manganese.
Low manganese levels may cause weakening of the intestinal epithelial barrier
“The mechanisms by which SLC39A8 controls manganese homeostasis and epithelial integrity remain elusive,” reported scientists from the University of Michigan (USA). That is why in a recent study, they examined the role of the manganese transporter SLC39A8 in maintaining levels of this micronutrient and intestinal health. As a reminder, SLC39A8 is essential because it triggers the absorption of zinc, iron, manganese and cadmium by cells.
In order to carry out the research, published in the journal Nature Communicationsthe researchers created mice with a genetic variant of SLC39A8 specific to intestinal epithelial cells (Slc39a8-IEC KO), which have markedly reduced manganese levels in the blood and most organs. The results show impaired intestinal absorption of manganese in rodents. Thus, the authors conclude that manganese deficiency could be responsible for the weakening of the epithelial barrier of the intestines, which would lead to or worsen inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
IBD: New Therapeutic Possibilities for Patients with Manganese Deficiency
“An unbiased transcriptomic analysis identifies alkaline ceramidase 1 (ACER1), a key enzyme in sphingolipid metabolism, as a potential therapeutic target for manganese-related IBD, whose dietary consumption has declined by more than 40% over the past 15 years in developed countries,” can be read in the conclusions of the work.
