No differences in mucosal adaptive growth one week after intestinal resection in rats given enteral glutamine supplementation or deprived of glutamine

Objective: To evaluate the effects of intraluminal glutamine on the adaptation of intestinal mucosa after resection compared with transsection and un-operated on control animals. Design: Open, controlled, experimental study. Setting: University hospital, Sweden. Subjects: 123 Sprague-Dawley rats. Intervention: Daily isonitrogenous oral diet was given either free of glutamine or supplemented with 4% glutamine for 2 or 7 days to rats subjected to intestinal resection, transection or no operation. Main outcome measures: Body weight and protein content, DNA content, and thymidine incorporation in jejunal and ileal mucosa. Results. Resection resulted in a significant growth stimulation evaluated by weight/body weight, protein, and DNA content (p < 0.05-0.001). Glutamine supplementation did not significantly influence this growth response. Thymidine incorporation in jejunum was stimulated by glutamine on day 3 (p < 0.05-0.001). Conclusion: The glutamine fortified diet had no growth stimulating effects compared with a glutamine free diet one week after 60% intestinal resection. An early increase in thymidine incorporation indicated that glutamine had a transient proliferative effect.