Glucagon-like peptide 2: a key link between nutrition and intestinal adaptation in neonates?
This paper reviews the evidence from recent studies in young piglets to examine the hypothesis that glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2) is a physiologically relevant hormonal signal linked to the intestinal adaptation associated with enteral nutrition in neonates. Observations that support the hypothesis include, 1) the GLP-2 secretory response to enteral nutrition is functional as early as late gestation, 2) parallel changes in intestinal growth and circulating GLP-2 occur in response to the quantity and composition of enteral nutrition after birth, and 3) the acute temporal changes in intestinal metabolism and circulating GLP-2 concentrations in response to enteral nutrition are generally coincident. In contrast, however, the lack of intestinal trophic responses to both pharmacological GLP-2 concentrations in the fetus and weanling pigs, and to physiological GLP-2 concentrations in neonates raises doubts concerning the physiological relevance of GLP-2 as a enterally mediated trophic signal. A more definitive test of this hypothesis will require further studies that assess the intestinal metabolic response to enteral nutrition using experimental approaches that block GLP-2 action.
Burrin
Douglas
D
U.S. Department of Agriculture/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. dburrin@bcm.tmc.edu
Guan
Xinfu
X
Stoll
Barbara
B
Petersen
Yvette M
YM
Sangild
Per T
PT
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D053767:Glucagon-Like Peptide 2; D004763:Glucagon-Like Peptides; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D007422:Intestines / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D010455:Peptides / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D013552:Swine; D000520:alpha-Glucosidases / Q000378:metabolism
D053767:Glucagon-Like Peptide 2; D010455:Peptides; D004763:Glucagon-Like Peptides; D000520:alpha-Glucosidases; D005947:Glucose