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Dietary l-Arginine and Intestinal Recovery

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L-Arginine in Clinical Nutrition

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

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Abstract

Growing evidence from several clinical and experimental studies indicates that arginine and nitric oxide are critical to the normal physiology of the gastrointestinal tract and maintain the mucosal integrity of the intestine in various intestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and hepatitis. In this report, we discuss the use of a dietary arginine supplementation in the treatment of different gastrointestinal disorders including intestinal ischemia-reperfusion, short bowel syndrome, chemotherapy-induced mucositis, microvillous inclusion disease, etc. The mechanisms of action of arginine and nitric oxide on intestinal cell turnover (proliferation and apoptosis) as well as the effects of this agent on intestinal regrowth after bowel resection and intestinal recovery following intestinal ischemia or chemotherapy-induced damage in rodent models are discussed. Such knowledge may allow us to exploit arginine that acts as gut-trophic agent for the bowel mucosa and suggest new therapeutic strategies to maintain gut integrity after massive bowel resection or intestinal injury, eliminating the dependence on total parenteral nutrition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Bnai Zion Medical Center, 47 Golomb St., 6 Amnon ve Tamar, 4940, Haifa, 31048, Israel

    Igor Sukhotnik MD

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  1. Igor Sukhotnik MD
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Correspondence to Igor Sukhotnik MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science & Technology Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom

    Vinood B. Patel

  2. Department Nutrition and Dietetics Nutritional Sciences Division School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

    Victor R. Preedy

  3. Nutritional Sciences Research Division Faculty of Life Science and Medicine, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

    Rajkumar Rajendram

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Sukhotnik, I. (2017). Dietary l-Arginine and Intestinal Recovery. In: Patel, V., Preedy, V., Rajendram, R. (eds) L-Arginine in Clinical Nutrition. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26009-9_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26009-9_27

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26007-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26009-9

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