Glutamine: a necessary nutrient for the intensive care patient

Glutamine is a dispensable amino acid, a fact which is particularly important for intensive care patients, and it can be used as an oxidative substrate in processes which require prompt regulation of quantitatively large flows. The production and transport of glutamine from skeletal muscle may be inadequate in patients under intensive care, hence supplemented nutrition has been suggested. Improved long-term survival has been reported, which makes glutamine treatment one of the very few therapeutic strategies that improves outcome in intensive care. This overview deals with the metabolic and physiologic features and updates the clinical documentation of the field.