IMMUNOSTIMULATING EFFECT OF ORAL GLUTAMINE

Glutamine represents the principal metabolic substrate for all rapidly proliferating cells. Since part of the glutamine efficacy could be re lated to immunoregulating properties, we assessed the effects of orall y administered glutamine on serum interleukin-2 (IL-2) levels and inte stinal T-cell populations in 48 athymic (nude) mice. Twenty-four mice received a standard diet enriched by glutamine (added to drinking wate r at a 4% concentration), while the other 24 served as the control gro up and received the same diet without glutamine. In glutamine fed anim als, we observed a marked increase in IL-2 concentrations after 10 day s of treatment in comparison with control group and a modest but signi ficant increase in intestinal T-cell counts. These results suggest tha t oral glutamine is able to exert local and systemic immunostimulating activity that could be of relevance in the prevention of gut integrit y and immune defense loss associated, for example, with trauma, surger y, and starvation.