The Effect of Glutamine on Systemic Inflammation During Human Experimental Endotoxemia

NCT ID: NCT00780520

Last Updated: 2008-10-27

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 8 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2007-06-30
• Study Completion Date: 2007-10-31

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.

Conditions

Sepsis; Systemic Inflammation

Keywords

glutamine inflammation HSP70 sepsis

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

1

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

alanine-glutamine infusion

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

2

Group Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

alanine-glutamine infusion

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Interventions

alanine-glutamine infusion

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Healthy young males

Exclusion Criteria

• Any kind of acute or chronic diseases

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 40 Years
• Eligible Sex: MALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Rigshospitalet, Denmark

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Locations

Centre of Inflammation and Metabolism, Rigshospitalet

Copenhagen, , Denmark

Countries

Denmark

References

Andreasen AS, Pedersen-Skovsgaard T, Mortensen OH, van Hall G, Moseley PL, Pedersen BK. The effect of glutamine infusion on the inflammatory response and HSP70 during human experimental endotoxaemia. Crit Care. 2009;13(1):R7. doi: 10.1186/cc7696. Epub 2009 Jan 27.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 19173710 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

H-KF-01-144/98

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id