The Effect of Glutamine on Systemic Inflammation During Human Experimental Endotoxemia

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Sepsis; Systemic Inflammation
• Interventions: Dietary Supplement: alanine-glutamine infusion

• Registration Number: NCT00780520
• Lead Sponsor: Rigshospitalet, Denmark

Brief Summary

Glutamine levels decrease during severe sepsis; this may be associated with increased mortality. The investigators tested the effects of glutamine supplementation on systemic inflammation in a human sepsis model.

The investigators found that glutamine levels drops significantly during experimentally induced systemic inflammation. However, glutamine did not affect the degree of inflammation.

Detailed Description

Glutamine levels have been shown to decrease substantially with severe sepsis and this has been connected with increased mortality. Therefore, in the present study, we infused either saline or Alanine-glutamine during an endotoxin challenge and measured parameters related to an immune response, i.e. plasma cytokines and Heat Shock Protein (HSP)-70.

Materials and Methods This was a double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled crossover trial in eight healthy young men. The study was performed in random order on two separate days, with a four-week washout period between days. Subjects received an infusion of Alanine-glutamine ( Dipeptiven) at a rate of 0.025 g / (kg BW \* h) for 10 hrs or saline. After two hours of infusion subjects received an intravenous bolus of E. coli endotoxin (0.3 ng/kg). Blood samples were collected hourly for the following eight hours. HSP-70 protein content in isolated Blood Mononuclear Cells (BMNCs) was measured by western blotting.

Results and Discussion Plasma glutamine was significantly increased during infusion with alanine-glutamine infusion. En-dotoxin caused a reduction in plasma-glutamine during saline infusion as well as during Alanine-glutamine infusion. A significant effect of endotoxin was found on leukocyte subpopulations, tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin-6, the expression of HSP-70 in BMNCs, temperature, and heart rate. However, no differences were detected between treatments with regard to the effect of endotoxin on any of these parameters.

Conclusion Endotoxemia reduces plasma glutamine independently of parenteral infusion of alanine-glutamine. Glutamine does not alter the response of leukocytes, leukocyte subpopulations, IL-6, or TNF-α, or the expression of HSP-70 in BMNCs to endotoxemia.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2007-06
• Primary Completion: 2007-10
• Study Completion: 2007-10
• Status Verified: 2008-10
• Study First Submitted: 2008-10-24
• Study First Submitted QC: 2008-10-24
• Last Update Submitted: 2008-10-24
• Study First Posted: 2008-10-27
• Last Update Posted: 2008-10-27

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Male
• Target Recruitment: 8

Inclusion Criteria

• Healthy young males

Exclusion Criteria

• Any kind of acute or chronic diseases

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: CROSSOVER

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
1	alanine-glutamine infusion	-
2	alanine-glutamine infusion	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Plasma-levels of cytokines

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Heat shock protein -70 production from BMNCs

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Centre of Inflammation and Metabolism, Rigshospitalet; 🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark