T. Bark et al., GLUTAMINE SUPPLEMENTATION DOES NOT PREVENT BACTERIAL TRANSLOCATION AFTER NONLETHAL HEMORRHAGE IN RATS, The European journal of surgery, 161(1), 1995, pp. 3-8
Objective: To find out whether supplementation of an enteral diet with
glutamine would reduce translocation of bacteria to mesenteric lymph
nodes or blood after major haemorrhage in rats. Design: Open randomise
d study. Setting: University departments of surgery and microbiology,
Sweden. Material: 49 Sprague-Dawley rats. Interventions: Rats were fed
enterally for 7 days on diets supplemented with either glutamine or a
n isonitrogenous amount of non-essential amino acids. After feeding, 8
experimental and 8 control rats underwent sham operation; 9 and 7, re
spectively, underwent moderate haemorrhage (to 65 mm Hg); and 9 and 8,
respectively, underwent severe haemorrhage (50 mm Hg) without reinfus
ion. Main outcome measures: Microbiological analyses of samples of blo
od and mesenteric lymph nodes taken 24 hours after haemorrhage. Result
s: The median (interquartile) number of colony forming units/mesenteri
c lymph node after moderate haemorrhage in animals who were given glut
amine supplementation was 11 (0-34) and in control animals 20 (0-178).
After severe haemorrhage the corresponding figures were 199 (10-310)
and 22 (0-187). No pathogens were isolated from blood cultures. Conclu
sion: Glutamine supplementation before haemorrhage did not reduce bact
erial translocation to mesenteric lymph nodes in this rat model.