Effects of glutamine in enteral nutrition on apoptosis of intestinal mucosal cells in rats with severe acute pancreatitis

Objective To study the effects of glutamine (Gln) in enteral nutrition(EN) on apoptosis and the expression of apoptosis-regulated genes Bax in rats with experimental severe acute pancreatisis(SAP).Methods Eighty-nine Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into control group,SAP+parenteral nutrition(PN) group,SAP+ EN group and SAP+EN+Gln group.Each group was divided into four-day and seven-day subgroups again.Each index was tested on the 4th day or the 7th day.Apoptosis of mucosal cells were detected by TUNEL method,and the expressions of Bax protein were determined by SP immunohistochemistry.Results The apoptotic indexes(AI) of mucosal cells in SAP model groups were significantly higher than those in control group(P0.01),and the results on the 7 th day in SAP+PN and SAP+EN groups were significantly higher than that in SAP+EN+Gln group(P0.05).AI detected on the 7th day were also significantly lower than those detected on the 4th day in SAP+EN and SAP+EN+Gln group(P0.01).The positive rate of Bax protein expression in 7day-Gln+EN group was significantly lower than that in EN and PN group(P0.01).Conclusion Using glutamine in enteral nutrition maybe helpful to keep the integrity of gut barrier to decrease apoptosis of the epithelial cells and therefore to prevent gut bacterial translocation and following infection in severe acute pancreatitis.