Lipid-based parenteral nutrition and the immunosuppression of protein malnutrition.

Protein malnutrition has been directly related to impaired immunocompetence. An experimental protocol was designed to determine the efficacy of a lipid-based system of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in restoring immunocompetence in nutritionally depleted subjects. Thirty rats sensitized to PPD were made anergic by the oral administration of a protein-free diet. Nutritional repletion was instituted with either a complete oral diet or lipid-based TPN. The two groups of animals did not differ significantly in the time required to regain positive skin test reactivity or in the weight gained during the repletion period. The lipid-based system of TPN was comparable to the complete oral diet in reversing the anergy of protein malnutrition.