A short review of the relationship between intestinal permeability and inflammatory joint disease.

The potential aetiological relationship between increased intestinal permeability and inflammatory joint disease is reviewed. The known physiology of intestinal permeability is outlined and the alterations which occur in different disease states are described. A rationale is given for the hypothesis that the gut is the likely source of the antigens causing inflammatory arthritis, and the studies of this hypothesis to date are reviewed.