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Celiac disease is an autoimmune enterophaty induced by the ingestion of gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. Although historically it was thought that it was an infrequent pediatric disease, now it is know that its prevalence is close to 1% in the general population. It is even higher between patients with some endocrine disorders and nutritional deficits. The use of antitransglutaminase and antiendomisium antibodies and the endoscopical duodenal biopsy are the cornerstones for its diagnosis. The introduction of a gluten-free diet will achieve the normalization of the intestinal mucosa. It will avoid the risk of long term complications and an it will achieve an improvement in quality of life. Medical and dietitian long term follow-up will be important to improve the compliance to the treatment.

We measured the proton leak across the inner membrane of liver mitochondria isolated from six different vertebrate species and from obese and control Zucker rats. Proton leak at 37 degrees C was similar in rat and pigeon, and in obese and control Zucker rats. Compared to rat, it was lower in cane toad, shingleback lizard, and the Madeiran lizard Lacerta dugessi. Proton leak at 20 degrees C was similar in xenopus toad and higher in rainbow trout, compared to rat. In general, proton permeability and substrate oxidation activity were greater in liver mitochondria from endotherms than those from ectotherms. Analysis of this and previous data showed that proton leak per milligram of mitochondrial protein correlated with standard metabolic rate, and proton leak per milligram of inner membrane phospholipid correlated with 11 phospholipid fatty acid compositional parameters, including unsaturation index.