Why Food Allergy Occurs - An Electronic Mystery Story.

FOOD allergy; MYSTERY fiction; CHECK valves; GASTROINTESTINAL system; ELECTRONIC equipment

Clinically, the gastrointestinal tract appears to act as an electronic device in its process of "deciding" which particle to let enter the body and which particle to prevent from entering the body, i.e., it functions as an electronic gatekeeper. This sorting process can be explained if one makes two assumptions: (1) that the central structure of the secretory IgA molecule is like the central structure in an electronic transistor and acts as an electronic one-way valve permitting electrons to flow only in one direction, thus resulting in the polarization of the secretory IgA molecule; and (2) that these polarized secretory IgA particles, when coalesced into a sheet and this sheet is spread over the gastrointestinal tract's absorptive surface, act as an electronic sieve with the ability to selectively accept or reject particles for absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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