Enteral nutritional supplementation prevents mesenteric lymph node T-cell suppression in burn injury

Objective: To determine the effects of an immune-enhancing diet supplemented with glutamine, arginine, fish oil, and dietary nucleotides on mesenteric lymph node T-cell functional disturbances encountered after burn injury in rats. Design: A prospective animal study. Setting: University medical center research laboratory. Subjects. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Interventions. Rats received a 30%, total body surface, full-thickness burn. Burn-injury rats received the IMPACT diet supplemented with glutamine, arginine, fish oil, and nucleotides or arginine, fish oil, and nucleotides, or an isocaloric/isonitrogenous diet without supplementation with glutamine, arginine, fish oil, or nucleotides. Measurements and Main Results., Two days after injury, we found a significant decrease in the proliferation and interleukin-2 production by mesenteric lymph node T cells derived from rats fed on conventional chow compared with sham rats. The burn-related suppression of mesenteric lymph node T-cell proliferation and interleukin-2 production was prevented when the rats were fed on a high-protein diet rich in glutamine, arginine, fish oil, and nucleotides. We found that the immunostimulatory effects of the enriched diet are dependent on the presence of glutamine, arginine, fish oil, and nucleotides as feeding of rats on the isocaloric/isonitrogenous diet deficient in glutamine, arginine, fish oil, and nucleotides did not prevent the burn-related suppression of mesenteric lymph node T-cell dysfunction. Finally, our studies suggested that immunostimulatory effects of the diet are mediated by prostaglandin E-2 regulation of T-cell activation signaling molecule P59(fyn). Conclusion. These results suggest that a diet rich in arginine, fish oil, and nucleotides, with and without glutamine, can effectively prevent T-cell dysfunction encountered after burn injury.