Table 1.
Methods and results of randomized, controlled studies investigating potential beneficial effects of glutamine supplementation in mortality, morbidity, hospital acquired infections, length of stay, or inflammation in endotoxic neonatal animals.
| Animal models (pups) | n | Combined with other immunonutrients or inducers | Dose | Route | Duration | Mortality | Hospital- acquired infections | Length of stay | Organ function/Morbidity | Inflammation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endotoxic 11–13-day-old Wistar rat pups [71] | 5 | Saline plus LPS plus glutamine | 2 mol/kg | Single intraperitoneal injection | 90–210 min | — | Improved clinical signs of endotoxic rats | — | — | Restored VO2 of endotoxic animals |
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| Undernourished swiss mice pups/dam [72] | 12 | Zinc acetate was added in the drinking water (500 mg/L) to the lactating dams | 100 mM, 40–80 microL | Daily supplementation with subcutaneous injections | 2–14 days | — | — | — | Protects against malnutrition-induced brain developmental impairments | — |
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| Male Wistar suckling rat pups, well-nourished and malnourished during lactation [73] | 6–12 | No | 500 mg/kg/day | By gavage during postnatal days 7 to 27 | 7 to 27 days | — | — | — | In both nutritional condition, Glutamine rats presented higher cortical spreading depression propagation as compared to water-treated controls | — |
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| Eleven-day rat pups [74] | 7–10 | Saline plus 300 microg/g Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide | 2 mmol/g | Intraperitoneal injections glutamine | 2 or 6 hours | — | — | — | — | TNFα, IL-10 increased by endotoxemia were partly prevented by glutamine |
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| Artificially reared 11 to 13-day-old Wistar rat pups [75] | 30 | Groups with inhibition of glutamine synthetase by methionine sulfoximine | 40 g/kg per day total protein, 10 to 15% of which is glutamine + glutamate, added to a mixture containing carbohydrates, lipids, and vitamins | Artificial feeding using the rat infant “pup in the cup” model through gastrostomy | 7–11 days | — | — | — | Glutamine-deprived animals demonstrated breakdown of the epithelial junctions, sloughing of microvilli, decreased actin cores, and degeneration of the terminal | — |
LPS: lipopolysaccharide; IL: interleukin; TNFα: tumor necrosis factor alpha; NS: nonstatistical difference.