Addition of probiotics to glutamine therapy as intestinal barrier protection for severe surgical patients

Objective: To study the protecting effect of combining probiotics with Glutamine (Gln) in intestinal barrier function of severe surgical patients. Methods: A total of 36 surgical patients with severe gastrointestinal diseases were randomly divided into routine Parenteral Nutrition (PN) group, probiotics group, and combination group, which received conventional PN, PN+probiotics and PN+probiotics+GLn respectively. Then all groups were measured the ratio of lactulose and Mannitol (L/M), the concentration of serum endotoxin, the level of intestinal Lactobacillus, and the number of gram-negative bacterium before operation and at the 3rd, 8th day after operation. Results: At 8th day, the ratio of lactulose and mannitol levels as well as the concentration of serum endotoxin in the probiotics group were much lower than those in the PN group (P 0.05). Conclusions: Addition of probiotics to Gln therapy has better protecting effect in intestinal barrier function.