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http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3225/is_n1_v40/ai_7764893
Glutamine Peptides to Prevent Protein Loss After Surgery
Conditions of catabolic stress, such as surgery, trauma or infection, lead to nitrogen loss. This loss is believed to come from muscle protein breakdown, which leads to the transport of glutamine to visceral organs, resulting in profound intramuscular glutamine depletion. Since muscle glutamine concentration strongly correlates with the rate of protein synthesis, and since glutamine is known to promote protein anabolic processes, parenteral nutrition supplementation with glutamine would likely conserve protein and promote healing. Unfortunately, glutamine is too unstable to be added directly to infusion solutions; however, this drawback can be overcome by substituting short-chain peptides, which are hydrolyzed by the body to free amino acids.
Stehle and colleagues tested the efficacy of glutamine supplementation in a study of 12 patients recovering from resection of carcinoma of the rectum or colon. Synthetic dipeptide containing alanine and glutamine was added to the parenteral nutrition of six of the patients. The other six patients, who served as a control group, received similar parenteral nutrition and supplementation with a dipeptide containing alanine and glycine. Daily nitrogen balance was calculated for each patient, and muscle biopsies were performed immediately before surgery and on the third postoperative day.
The mean daily nitrogen balance of the patients who received glutamine supplementation was significantly higher than that of patients in the control group. During the five days of the study, the patients who received glutamine lost the equivalent of 9g of protein daily compared with a loss of 23g daily in the control group. The authors estimate that supplementation with glutamine resulted in a total savings of 300g of muscle mass for each patient who received it. (Lancet, February 4, 1989, vol. 1, no. 8632, p. 231.)
Glutamine Peptides to Prevent Protein Loss After Surgery
Conditions of catabolic stress, such as surgery, trauma or infection, lead to nitrogen loss. This loss is believed to come from muscle protein breakdown, which leads to the transport of glutamine to visceral organs, resulting in profound intramuscular glutamine depletion. Since muscle glutamine concentration strongly correlates with the rate of protein synthesis, and since glutamine is known to promote protein anabolic processes, parenteral nutrition supplementation with glutamine would likely conserve protein and promote healing. Unfortunately, glutamine is too unstable to be added directly to infusion solutions; however, this drawback can be overcome by substituting short-chain peptides, which are hydrolyzed by the body to free amino acids.
Stehle and colleagues tested the efficacy of glutamine supplementation in a study of 12 patients recovering from resection of carcinoma of the rectum or colon. Synthetic dipeptide containing alanine and glutamine was added to the parenteral nutrition of six of the patients. The other six patients, who served as a control group, received similar parenteral nutrition and supplementation with a dipeptide containing alanine and glycine. Daily nitrogen balance was calculated for each patient, and muscle biopsies were performed immediately before surgery and on the third postoperative day.
The mean daily nitrogen balance of the patients who received glutamine supplementation was significantly higher than that of patients in the control group. During the five days of the study, the patients who received glutamine lost the equivalent of 9g of protein daily compared with a loss of 23g daily in the control group. The authors estimate that supplementation with glutamine resulted in a total savings of 300g of muscle mass for each patient who received it. (Lancet, February 4, 1989, vol. 1, no. 8632, p. 231.)
