I'd like to have a discussion about the relationship between these three. What I've gathered so far is basically, zonulin is a protein that signals the tight junctions in the gut and blood-brain barrier to open, and occludin is a protein that spans those tight junctions. I'd like some help searching for understanding of how we could use this to our benefit. Are there herbs or supplements that are useful to downregulate zonulin or upregulate occludin?

Dr. Fasano at University of Maryland is working on Zonulin related research.

If you have the answer to this, you will make some $$$.  

From what I read, this is pretty new research, so you'll probably just have to watch the research as it is published to keep abreast.

MAP !!!!  ............

No doubt in my book.. one of the BTD suggested herbs suggested in a Swami setting will prove - in the very least - to be having a part or all of what will create changes in the gut.  When I eliminated milk I was cured of belly pain within the NEXT day.. why would this not extend to other things?

I am so convinced that if I needed to test this out I might just eat one spice at a time for a week and see how I feel.

I wish you where O. so we could do a test together..

My mom was B I still would jump at her doing the testing.. Mom past on, but she did develop rectal and colon cancer - operated successfully- but still - . In her case.. I feel that her natural love of mushrooms, she ate them as often as available, and her love of apples was her cancer PREVENTION.

The mushrooms she liked where the kind she could find in some places, or the little white ones that if left to grow to long would puff into powder (champignions), or the 1-2 inch long ones, bright egg yolk yellow, curly kind,  where no two where ever alike, very delicate and verrrry soft to the touch.....or what is called Steinpilz in Switzerland, white and dark in color.. I will research for some pictures and post here.. and post in a few minutes.That did not work..

but then you did not ask about 'mushrooms'.. ha-ha going off on a tangent in honor of moms favorite foods.. IF she was alive I would cook her mushrooms every day... just to see if it would have made her healthy again.. I wonder????? in my heart I know she would have loved them, and her body might have answered...

Thanks for letting me meander...

Now what is in the apples?  some day they will refine some part of the seed and make it into a cure ... hahaha

Quoted from ABJoe

From what I read, this is pretty new research, so you'll probably just have to watch the research as it is published to keep abreast.

At least that explains why I was having a hard time finding info.

The effects of perioperative probiotic treatment on serum zonulin concentration and subsequent postoperative infectious complications after colorectal cancer surgery: a double-center and double-blind randomized clinical trial.

Quoted Text

RESULTS: The infection rate was lower in the probiotics group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Probiotics decreased the serum zonulin concentration (P < 0.001), duration of postoperative pyrexia (fever), duration of antibiotic therapy, and rate of postoperative infectious complications (all P < 0.05). The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway was inhibited by probiotics.

Inhibition of the p38 pathway is anti-inflammatory.

So as a celiac I have good reasons to keep on with probiotics nearly always , nice to know it is a good idea with this benefit

I doubled my daily probiotic dose after reading this.  

Quoted from http://datasheets.scbt.com/sc-5562.pdf

Expression of Occludin is upregulated by polyunsaturated fatty acids, increasing transendothelial cell resistance and reducing cellular permeability to large molecules.

Claudins are another important protein forming tight junctions.
http://www.alternapedia.net/wiki.pl?Claudin

Quoted from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23282252

...Whey proteins have been reported to improve intestinal barrier function, but their mechanism of action is not clear. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated increased intestinal claudin expression in response to milk protein components. Reviewed here are new findings suggesting that whey-protein-derived transforming growth factor β transcriptionally upregulates claudin-4 expression via a Smad-4-dependent pathway. These and other data, including limited clinical studies, are summarized below and, in the aggregate, suggest a therapeutic role for whey protein in diseases of intestinal barrier dysfunction, perhaps, in part, by regulating claudin expression.

...which is interesting because I've been feeling like it would be a good idea to try whey protein again. Casein is still, clearly, troublesome for me, but whey protein is quite another creature.