Glutamine alone or combined with short-chain fatty acids fails to enhance gut adaptation after massive enterectomy in rats.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of oral glutamine alone or combined with short chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the intestinal adaptation of rats submitted to an massive enterectomy.


METHODS
After receiving 70% small bowel resection, 30 Wistar rats were randomized to received either standard rat chow (control group, n=10) or the same diet supplemented with 3,05% of glutamine alone (glutamine group, n=10) or combined with a solution containing SCFA (glutamine+SCFA group, n=10). Animals were killed on the 14th postoperative day. Mucosal weight, crypt depth, villus height, wall width, and the mucosal content of DNA, were assessed in basal conditions (resected gut specimen) and compared to the small bowel specimen collected on the postoperative day 14, at both jejunum and ileum sites.


RESULTS
All groups presented similar pattern in weight evolution. In all groups, both the morphological findings and the DNA content were significantly higher at the end of the experiment than in basal conditions, at both the jejunum and ileum. Except for the jejunum wall width that was higher in control group (808+/-95 micro) than in the other two groups (glutamine = 649+/-88 micro and glutamine+SCFA = 656+/-92; p<0.01), there was no difference among them in all variables at both intestinal sites after 14 days.


CONCLUSIONS
All groups presented adaptation of the intestinal mucosa in the remnant gut. Glutamine combined or not with short chain fatty acids fails to influence the adaptive response of the small bowel.
Neves
José de Souza
Jde S
Department of Surgery, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Aguilar-Nascimento
José Eduardo de
JE
Gomes-da-Silva
Maria Helena Gaiva
MH
Cavalcanti
Rosecélia Nunes
RN
Bicudo
Alberto Salomão
AS
Nascimento
Mariana
M
Nochi
Rubens Jardim
RJ
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005973:Glutamine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects*; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012778:Short Bowel Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*
D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D005973:Glutamine