title: Plasma-amino acid profiles in sepsis and stress.
abstract: Sepsis has been associated with specific plasma amino acid patterns. Sixty-five patients were prospectively investigated as to whether these patterns are indeed sepsis specific, or specific for metabolic stress without concomitant sepsis, or associated with the presence of organ failure. Virtually all aminoacid levels were decreased by 10-30% (p less than 0.05), whereas cystine and phenylalanine were significantly elevated. These changes were more pronounced in severe sepsis. Organ failure was not associated with significantly altered amino acid profiles. No differences were found between sepsis and stress without signs of sepsis. In addition, imminent death was not associated with aberrant amino acid profiles. We conclude that sepsis and metabolic stress are associated with changes in plasma amino acid profiles, but that such changes are aspecific and therefore poor indicators of disease severity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Maastricht University Hospital, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vente
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: von Meyenfeldt
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: van Eijk
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: van Berlo
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Gouma
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: van der Linden
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Soeters
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000097:blood*; D000597:Amino Acids, Branched-Chain / Q000097:blood; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D006932:Hyperbilirubinemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine; D007239:Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000652:urine; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D000597:Amino Acids, Branched-Chain; D012709:Serum Albumin; D009584:Nitrogen