1.   The pepsin trypsin digest of the wheat prolamin gliadin is deleterious to the small intestinal mucosa of coeliac patients.

2.   In small intestinal mucosa homogenates from patients who had not been treated the increased basal adenylate cyclase activity, reported also by others.

3.   The diagnosis of coeliac disease was based on the finding of a flat small intestinal mucosa or clinical response to a gluten free diet, or both.

4.   The small intestinal mucosa was studied by histology, morphometry, biochemistry, and electron microscopy.

5.   Light microscopy of the small intestinal mucosa showed a mild to moderate enteropathy in all nine patients.

6.   This study shows that chronic ingestion of small amounts of gluten causes dose-dependent damage to the small intestinal mucosa in children with coeliac disease.