Download Cystic Fibrosis and The Effects on the Kidneys

Cystic Fibrosis and The Effects
on the Pancreas
By Jon Obert
What is cystic fibrosis
• It is an genetic disease that is caused by a
•
•
deletion of three base pairs on chromosome 7.
This deletion causes a mutation in the cystic
fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator
protein (CFTR), which is responsible for
transporting chloride into and out of cells.
This causes it to not function properly or to be
totally absent from the cell
What does this do to the body?
• Since the epithelial cells do not take in
chloride, the salt balance of the skin gets
messed up.
• This causes all the mucus in the body to
become extremely thick.
The Pancreas
• The Pancreas is an organ in the body that
secretes enzymes into the intestines to
digest foods.
• Some of the enzymes it secretes helps
digest fats.
What does cystic fibrosis do to a
Pancreas?
• The pancreas normally has a thin mucosal
coating around it.
• The mutated protein that causes cystic
fibrosis causes the mucus to become very
thick.
• This blocks the pathway the enzymes take
to the intestines so no enzymes can reach
their destination.
What does this Cause?
• Since no enzymes reach the intestines and
these enzymes help digest and absorb fat
along with a few other nutrients, Not
much fat is absorbed in the body, and
other nutrients are not absorbed properly.
• That is why people with cystic fibrosis are
normally skinny, even with strong healthy
diets, they still have trouble gaining
weight.
What happens to all the fat that is
undigested?
• It is removed with the feces and can
cause severe diarrhea and weight loss.
Overall
• The mutation of this one protein affects so
many different things in the body which
makes cystic fibrosis a very difficult
disease to deal with and life threatening.
References
• http://www.ygyh.org/cf/cause.htm
• http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/lungs
/cf.html
• http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/
heart/cystic_fibrosis.html