Glutamine ameliorates mechanical obstruction-induced intestinal injury

Background. Glutamine has been shown to be an important dietary component f or the maintenance of gut integrity. Although considered a nonessential ami no acid in normal circumstances, glutamine may become conditionally essenti al for the bowel during episodes of severe illness and malnutrition. In thi s study, we employed an animal model simulating mechanical intestinal obstr uction to explore the beneficial effects of glutamine on the intestine in r esponse to obstruction-induced injury. Materials and methods. Rats were on three feeding regimens-standard diet an d water (control group), diet and water containing 2% glutamine (glutamine group), or diet and water containing 2% arginine (arginine group)-for 3 day s prior to surgical preparation of intestinal obstruction. The bowel disten sion, fluid accumulation, and histological alterations in the intestinal mu cosa were measured 40 h after ileal ligation. Results. After 3 days of drinking water intervention, the plasma glutamine levels in the glutamine group (677 +/- 12 muM) were higher than those in th e control (451 +/- 27 muM) and arginine (379 +/- 25 muM) groups. The disten sion ratio measured 40 h after ileal ligation was significantly lower in th e glutamine group (30.9 +/- 4.2%) than in the control and arginine groups ( 45.9 +/- 1.7 and 46.1 +/- 3.4%, respectively). Also, glutamine markedly dec reased the fluid accumulation in the obstructed bowel segment (control grou p, 178.41 +/- 18.60 mg/cm; glutamine group, 104.97 +/- 13.17 mg/cm; arginin e group, 141.4 +/- 12.85 mg/cm). Furthermore, the obstruction-induced mucos al injury was substantially improved in glutamine-fed rats. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that glutamine can significantly reduce the degree of those physiological derangements induced by mechanical intest inal obstruction. (C) 2001 Academic Press.