Your Body's Essential Barriers

The human body is constantly exposed to environmental toxins.
A system of essential barriers protects the body.
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Protecting the Body is a System of Barriers (Gut, Brain, Skin, Eyes and Lungs)

Intestinal Barrier

One of the most hard working and vulnerable of the barriers is the intestinal barrier, which functions only to allow nutrients into the body to feed billions of cells and to block anything that is not a nutrient (food proteins & peptides, parasites, bacterial toxins, etc.) from invading the body.

In cases of intestinal barrier dysfunction, there is a breach in the barrier which can allow environmental triggers, such as food proteins, food-bound chemicals and lipopolysaccharides, to infiltrate the body, causing inflammation and triggering autoimmune reactivity (immune system attack on self-tissue). The layman's term for this condition is "leaky gut."


Did You Know?!

  • Once foreign molecules infiltrate the body it can lead to cross-reactivity with human tissues, binding to human tissues and breaching of the Blood Brain Barrier? These scenarios can lead to various autoimmune disorders affecting several systems in the body.
  • Since not every person's "leaky gut" is the same, blanket healing protocols will not work on every person because we are all different.

Array 2 - Intestinal Antigenic Permeability Screen™

The Array 2 helps practitioners narrow his/her focus in identifying triggers that need to be removed and choose a more effective, personalized, gut healing protocol.
Did You Know?!
  • When Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) enter the bloodstream, it can contribute to plaque formation in the arteries leading to heart disease and has been implicated in metabolic, liver, thyroid, bone and nervous system disorders.
  • LPS can also open the blood-brain barrier and put the brain and nervous system at risk.
  • Dietary proteins that infiltrate the body are known to cross-react with various human tissues which may contribute to autoimmunity.
  • Gliadin, a gluten protein, cross-reacts with multiple tissues;
  • Dairy proteins can cross-react with brain tissue;
  • Aquaporin from foods like spinach, tomatoes and corn, cross-reacts with aquaporin in the brain;
  • Tropomyosin from foods like shrimp, cross-reacts with tropomyosin in the brain;
  • Food proteins known as lectins or agglutinins are found to bind to human tissues potentially igniting an autoimmune reaction against the tissue, which can lead to arthritis, thyroid disorders, neuronal degradation and more.

Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) Permeability

When the BBB is breached, the barrier that separates the blood vessels and capillaries from the brain and nervous system is damaged and antigens that may be in the blood stream are able to access the brain and nervous system and trigger possible neuroautoimmunity.

A well-documented environmental trigger is systemic lipopolysaccharides (LPS). When a person has "leaky gut," LPS can easily infiltrate the body and once in the bloodstream, it is able to inflame the BBB and open the barrier at the tight junctions. Thus, a person with "leaky gut" is prone to developing "leaky brain!"

Physical activity can also open the BBB. Athletes playing sports in which the head is often knocked (football, basketball, soccer, hockey, etc.), over time, may damage the BBB. As BBB damage happens, tissue proteins are broken off and spill into the bloodstream where the immune system will begin to make autoantibodies against the BBB, which will further damage the BBB.

Did You Know?!

  • Chronic stress is a major (#1???) environmental trigger that opens the BBB.
  • Acute and repeated head trauma can damage the BBB even without concussion.
  • When the BBB is damaged it provides a gateway for environmental triggers to infiltrate the brain and nervous system.

Array 20 - Blood Brain Barrier Permeability™

Array 20 is a unique test that can identify BBB
damage, and can be used to assess the effectiveness of BBB healing protocols.
Did You Know?!
  • When the BBB is breached, the brain and nervous system are at risk for antigen invasion, which may trigger neuroautoimmunity such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and peripheral neuropathy
  • Environmental triggers known to breach the BBB are Borrelia burgdorferi, chemicals, gluten and dairy proteins and food aquaporin.

Why Use Cyrex Labs to Test Your Barrier Integrity?

Array 2

More Benefits:

  • The only clinically available test on the market to identify the route of damage happening to the barrier and to assess systemic LPS.
  • Is a sensitive and specific assessment measuring immune reactions to molecules large enough to initiate an immune response (macromolecules).

Recommended For Patients Who:

  • Present multiple symptom complaints (including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.)
  • Complain of food sensitivity and intolerance.
  • Suffer from abnormal immune cell count and function (including autoimmune diseases.)

Array 20

More Benefits:

  • Identifies the increased blood-brain barrier permeability which often results in persons with chronic increased intestinal permeability.
  • Assists in the assessment of increased ricks of neurodegenerative disorders.
  • Early investigation of contact sports-related TBI.
  • Evaluation of BBB breach caused by stress, trauma or environmental triggers.

Recommended For Patients Who:

  • Play contact sports during which repeated head trauma occurs.
  • Engage in activity that involves force or shock to the head and/or body.
  • Have intestinal permeability with abnormal elevation in LPS and/or Occludin/Zonulin antibodies.
  • Exhibit changes in cognitive function.

What Healthcare Professionals Are Saying About Array 2 and Array 20

"I consider the Cyrex Array 2 study to be the most effective laboratory study available for
evaluating gut permeability."

-Dr. David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, author of the international best seller Grain Brain and recently released international best seller Brain Maker

Antigens Tested

Array 2

Actomyosin IgA

Actomyosin is a smooth muscle protein found throughout the body. In the intestinal barrier's epithelial cells, actomyosin proteins form cables called the Actin Network. This cable network crosses the inside of epithelial cells and connects to tight junction proteins on either side of the epithelial cells. At appropriate times this cable network of actomyosin contracts to open tight junctions so that small amino acid nutrients can get into the blood stream. To safeguard the body, the cable network expands to keep the tight junctions closed. Learn More

Occludin/Zonulin (IgG, IgA, IgM)

Occludin and Zonulin are proteins of the tight junctions found between epithelial cells of the intestinal barrier. These proteins are gate keepers of the body, allowing only small amino acid nutrients to pass into the blood stream. When tight junction proteins are functioning properly, they prevent large molecules from crossing the intestinal barrier into the blood stream, where they can elicit an immune response. Learn More

Lipopolysaccharides (IgG, IgA, IgM)

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are endotoxins from gram-negative bacteria in the gut. The LPS protects gram-negative bacteria from gram-positive bacteria. When gram-negative bacterium dies it releases its LPS, which travels through the epithelial cells of the intestinal barrier and finds its way into the blood stream. Once LPS reaches the blood stream, it causes inflammation throughout the body and has been implicated in playing a role in multiple disorders. Learn More

Array 20

Blood Brain Barrier Protein IgG + IgA combined and IgM

The Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) is a physical barrier formed by an arrangement of endothelial cells and tight junctions that line the capillaries which supply blood to the brain. It acts as a highly selective filter that restricts movement of molecules from the blood across the brain. When the BBB is inflamed the tight junctions open and result in a condition often referred to as "leaky brain". When the BBB is continually disrupted neuroinflammation and neuroautoimmunity can occur. Disruption of BBB is found when testing for IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies to BBB proteins and tight junctions and shows an immune response which indicates a pathological alteration of the BBB.

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