Effects of glutamine on intestinal barrier in cirrhosis patients

Objective To evaluate the function of intestinal mucosa barrier in cirrhosis patients and the effects of alanyl-glutamine dipeptide supply on intestinal mucosa barrier in cirrhosis patients.Methods Forty-three patients were randomly divided into two groups:study group(22 cases) and control group(21 cases).All of the patients received isocaloric and isonitrogenic parenteral nutritional support daily for 10 days.The patients in study group were given glutamine at the dose of 0.3 g/(kg · d),while the patients in control group were given conventional common amino acid at the same dose.The normal group included 15 healthy people.The serum levels of DAO and ETX in 43 cirrhosis patients were detected before and after treatment by spectrophotometry in each group.Results The levels of DAO and ETX in cirrhosis group were significantly higher than those in normal group(P ＜ 0.01).After treatment,the serum levels of DAO and ETX in study group decreased (P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,these were significantly lower than those in control group (P ＜ 0.05).The serum level of DAO was correlated with the level of ETX in cirrhosis patients (r =0.269,P ＜ 0.05).There was no adverse reaction during treatment.Conclusions Alanyl-glutamine dipeptide is safe and beneficial for cirrhosis patients,which may be helpful to improve the function of intestinal mucosa barrier and reduce the incidence of endotoxemia. Key words: Cirrhosis ;  Glutamine ;  Diamine oxidase ;  Endotoxemia ;  Intestinal mucosa barrier