The impact of alanyl-glutamine-enriched enteral nutrition on immune function of postoperative patients

Objective To evaluate the impact of alanyl glutamine enriched enteral nutrition on immune function of postoperative patients. Methods Thirty two patients after major abdominal operation were randomly divided into three groups and received conventional parenteral nutrition(PN group), enteral nutrition (EN group) and alanyl glutamine enriched nutrition (GLN group) with isonitrogenic (0 2 g·kg-1·d-1) and isocarloric (92 0 kJ·kg-1·d-1) support from postoperative day(POD) 3 to POD11. The peripheral lymphocyte proportion and immunoglobin levels were measured. Results As compared with preoperative levels, the proportions of CD3+ and CD4+, and CD4+/CD8+ ratio on POD 11 decreased significantly in PN group (P=0.0003), but were resumed in both EN and GLN groups. The proportion of CD25+ was higher in GLN group than those of PN and EN groups(P=0.01,0.07). The plasma IgG and IgM on POD 11 in PN group were still significantly lower than preoperative levels(P=0.04), while in EN and GLN groups were resumed to the preoperative levels. Conclusions Enteral nutrition can alleviate the immunosuppression following the major abdominal operation, and glutamine enrichment can improve such immune function.