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Decreased glutamate, glutamine and citrulline concentrations in plasma and muscle in endotoxemia cannot be reversed by glutamate or glutamine supplementation: a primary intestinal defect?

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Abstract

Endotoxemia affects intestinal physiology. A decrease of circulating citrulline concentration is considered as a reflection of the intestinal function. Citrulline can be produced in enterocytes notably from glutamate and glutamine. The aim of this work was to determine if glutamate, glutamine and citrulline concentrations in blood, intestine and muscle are decreased by endotoxemia, and if supplementation with glutamate or glutamine can restore normal concentrations. We induced endotoxemia in rats by an intraperitoneal injection of 0.3 mg kg−1 lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This led to a rapid anorexia, negative nitrogen balance and a transient increase of the circulating level of IL-6 and TNF-α. When compared with the values measured in pair fed (PF) animals, almost all circulating amino acids (AA) including citrulline decreased, suggesting a decrease of intestinal function. However, at D2 after LPS injection, most circulating AA concentrations were closed to the values recorded in the PF group. At that time, among AA, only glutamate, glutamine and citrulline were decreased in gastrocnemius muscle without change in intestinal mucosa. A supplementation with 4% monosodium glutamate (MSG) or an isomolar amount of glutamine failed to restore glutamate, glutamine and citrulline concentrations in plasma and muscle. However, MSG supplementation led to an accumulation of glutamate in the intestinal mucosa. In conclusion, endotoxemia rapidly but transiently decreased the circulating concentrations of almost all AA and more durably of glutamate, glutamine and citrulline in muscle. Supplementation with glutamate or glutamine failed to restore glutamate, glutamine and citrulline concentrations in plasma and muscles. The implication of a loss of the intestinal capacity for AA absorption and/or metabolism in endotoxemia (as judged from decreased citrulline plasma concentration) for explaining such results are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank Catherine Luengo and Véronique Mathé for expert technical assistance. We wish to thank Ms. T. Kuwahara for her excellent technical assistance with the amino acid analysis. The project was supported by funds from Ajinomoto Co. (Japan) and by grants from the National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA, France).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, CNRH-IdF, UMR914 Nutrition Physiology and Ingestive Behavior, 16 rue Claude Bernard, 75005, Paris, France

    Claire Boutry, Cécile Bos, Daniel Tomé & François Blachier

  2. AgroParisTech, CNRH-IdF, UMR914 Nutrition Physiology and Ingestive Behavior, 75005, Paris, France

    Claire Boutry, Cécile Bos, Daniel Tomé & François Blachier

  3. Umami Wellness Research Group, Frontier Research Laboratory, Institute for Innovation, Ajinomoto Co. Inc, Kawasaki, 210-8681, Japan

    Hideki Matsumoto

  4. Laboratory of Biological Nutrition, EA 2498, Faculté de Pharmacie-Université Paris Descartes, 75270, Paris Cedex 06, France

    Christophe Moinard & Luc Cynober

  5. Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, Hunan, China

    Yulong Yin

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  1. Claire Boutry
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  2. Hideki Matsumoto
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  3. Cécile Bos
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Correspondence to François Blachier.

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Boutry, C., Matsumoto, H., Bos, C. et al. Decreased glutamate, glutamine and citrulline concentrations in plasma and muscle in endotoxemia cannot be reversed by glutamate or glutamine supplementation: a primary intestinal defect?. Amino Acids 43, 1485–1498 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-012-1221-2

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