[Glutamine (Gln) supplementation in septic rats].

The objectives of these experiments were to investigate the effect of Gln supplementation on protein metabolism and immune function in septic rats. (Experiment 1): 73 SD female rats were catheterized for TPN into the jugular vein on day 1. On day 4, the rats were randomized into 4 group: 1) control (C)+Standard TPN (STPN), 2) (C)+Gln TPN (GTPN), 3) sepsis (S)+STPN, 4) S+GTPN. Sepsis was induced by injection of 10(10) C. Coli/kg from the TPN catheter. U-14C-leucine or 15N2-Urea was given before sacrifice on day 5. (Experiment 2): 48 SD male rats were randomized into 3 groups, 1) normal control rat (NC), fed as lib. 2) peritonitis (P)+STPN, 3) P+GTPN. On day 1, 34 rats were catheterized and either STPN or GTPN was begun. On day 3, 6 hours after serum cecum ligation and puncture, resuscitation was done. On day 5, rats were sacrificed. The results were as follows: 1) FSR of ileum, proximal colon, distal colon and muscle were augmented by GTPN, 2) Sepsis caused a significant increase of urea production, but GTPN prevented this increase, 3) lymphocyte blastogenation was decreased with sepsis, but GTPN improved this reduction, 4) Phagocytic index was higher with GTPN than STPN. We concluded that Gln supplementation would prevent from leading the patients with severe infection to the multiple organ failure.