Effects of glutamine supplementation on splenocyte cytokine mRNA expression in rats with septic peritonitis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of glutamine (GLN)-enriched diets before and GLN-containing total parenteral nutrition (TPN) after sepsis or both on the secretion of cytokines and their mRNA expression levels in splenocytes of rats with septic peritonitis.


METHODS
Rats were assigned to a control group and 4 experimental groups. The control group and experimental groups 1 and 2 were fed a semipurified diet, while experimental groups 3 and 4 had part of the casein replaced by GLN which provided 25% of the total nitrogen. After rats were fed with these diets for 10 d, sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), whereas the control group underwent a sham operation, at the same time, an internal jugular vein was cannulated. All rats were maintained on TPN for 3 d. The control group and experimental groups 1 and 3 were infused with conventional TPN, while the TPN in experimental groups 2 and 4 was supplemented with GLN, providing 25% of the total nitrogen in the TPN solution. All rats were kiued 3 d after sham operation or CLP to examine their splenocyte subpopulation distribution and cytokine expression levels.


RESULTS
Most cytokines could not be detected in plasma except for IL-10. No difference in plasma IL-10 was observed among the 5 groups. The IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, and TNF-alpha mRNA expression levels in splenocytes were significantly higher in experimental groups 2 and 4 than in the control group and group 1. The mRNA expression of IFN-gamma was significantly higher in the GLN-supplemented groups than in the control group and experimental group 1. The proportion of CD45Ra+ was increased, while those of CD3+ and CD4+ were decreased in experimental group 1 after CLP was performed. There were no differences in spleen CD3+ lymphocyte distributions between the control and GLN-supplemented groups.


CONCLUSIONS
GLN supplementation can maintain T-lymphocyte populations in the spleen and significantly enhance the mRNA expression levels of Th1 and Th2 cytokines and TNF-alpha in the spleen of rats with septic peritonitis.
Yeh
Sung-Ling
SL
Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung-Shan S. Road, 100 Taipei, Taiwan, China.
Lai
Yu-Ni
YN
Shang
Huey-Fang
HF
Lin
Ming-Tsan
MT
Chiu
Wan-Chun
WC
Chen
Wei-Jao
WJ
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics*; D005973:Glutamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism; D009573:Nitrites / Q000378:metabolism; D010538:Peritonitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018805:Sepsis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D013154:Spleen / Q000502:physiology*
D016207:Cytokines; D009566:Nitrates; D009573:Nitrites; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D005973:Glutamine