Effects of L-Glutamine oral supplementation on prostate of irradiated rats.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the protective effect of L-Glutamine in animals undergone to ventral radiation when the target organ is not the prostate.


METHODS
Wistar rats were divided into groups of 10 animals each: Controls (C), maintained under standard conditions and not exposed to radiation, Radiated group (R) undergone to abdominal radiation only and Radiated plus supplemented by L-glutamine group (R+G). The animals of group R+G were supplemented with L-glutamine at the beginning of the experiment until death in the 22nd day. The ventral prostate was dissected and processed for morphometrical analysis. The epithelial height, collagen density and acinar area were objectively assessed in histological sections.


RESULTS
Epithelial height was significantly reduced in R group in comparison to C group (p= 0.005). However, there was no statistical difference between the C and R+G groups. Collagen surface density in the C and R groups were not statistically different, but a significant difference was observed when comparing groups R+G and R (p=0.040). The R+G group values did not differ significantly from C group. The acinar prostate area of group R was similar to that of C (p= 0.971), but in R+G it was significantly reduced when compared with the C (p= 0.038) and R (p= 0.001) groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Pelvic radiation promotes structural modifications in ventral prostate of rats, which can be reduced by L-Glutamine.
Núcleo de Cirurgia Experimental do Departamento de Cirurgia da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, PE, Brasil.
Flavia C M
FC
Pinto
Unidade de Pesquisa Urogenital da Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, UERJ, RJ, Brasil.
Waldemar S
WS
Costa
Unidade de Pesquisa Urogenital da Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, UERJ, RJ, Brasil.
Pamella C
PC
Silva
Unidade de Pesquisa Urogenital da Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, UERJ, RJ, Brasil.
Diogo B de
DB
Souza
Unidade de Pesquisa Urogenital da Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, UERJ, RJ, Brasil.
Bianca
B
Gregorio
Unidade de Pesquisa Urogenital da Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, UERJ, RJ, Brasil.
Francisco J B
FJ
Sampaio
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis / Q000528:radiation effects; D005973:Glutamine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D011467:Prostate / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011897:Random Allocation; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents; D005973:Glutamine; D003094:Collagen