Fig. 1.

Effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxaemia and oral glutamine on crypt cell proliferation and enterocyte apoptosis; 5-bromodeoxyuridine (5-BrdU) incorporation into proliferating jejunal and ileal crypt cells was detected with a goat anti-BrdU antibody. The representative sections (on the left side) demonstrate that cell proliferation decreased following LPS compared to sham animals. Following administration of oral glutamine, LPS rats demonstrated a significant increase in a number of proliferating cells compared to LPS non-treated animals. Immunohistochemistry for caspase-3 was used to determine enterocyte apoptosis. The representative sections (on the right side) demonstrate that the number of apoptotic cells increased significantly following LPS compared to control animals and decreased significantly after treatment with glutamine. Gln: glutamine.