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Dietary l-glutamine supplementation modulates microbial community and activates innate immunity in the mouse intestine

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A Correction to this article was published on 11 January 2021

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Abstract

This study was conducted to determine effects of dietary supplementation with 1 % l-glutamine for 14 days on the abundance of intestinal bacteria and the activation of intestinal innate immunity in mice. The measured variables included (1) the abundance of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus and Bifidobacterium in the lumen of the small intestine; (2) the expression of toll-like receptors (TLRs), pro-inflammatory cytokines, and antibacterial substances secreted by Paneth cells and goblet cells in the jejunum, ileum and colon; and (3) the activation of TLR4-nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), and phosphoinositide-3-kinases (PI3K)/PI3K-protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathways in the jejunum and ileum. In the jejunum, glutamine supplementation decreased the abundance of Firmicutes, while increased mRNA levels for antibacterial substances in association with the activation of NF-κB and PI3K-Akt pathways. In the ileum, glutamine supplementation induced a shift in the Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio in favor of Bacteroidetes, and enhanced mRNA levels for Tlr4, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and antibacterial substances participating in NF-κB and JNK signaling pathways. These results indicate that the effects of glutamine on the intestine vary with its segments and compartments. Collectively, dietary glutamine supplementation of mice beneficially alters intestinal bacterial community and activates the innate immunity in the small intestine through NF-κB, MAPK and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways.

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Abbreviations

AKT:

Protein kinase B

Ang4 :

RNase angiogenin 4

Crs :

Cryptdin-related sequence

Ifn :

Interferon

Il :

Interleukin

Lyz2 :

Lysozyme 2

MAPK:

Mitogen-activated protein kinases

Muc :

Mucin

Myd88 :

Myeloid differentiation factor-88

NF-κB:

Nuclear factor kappa B

PI3K:

Phosphoinositide-3-kinases

Reg3γ :

Regenerating islet-derived 3 gamma

Spla2 :

Secretory group II A phospholipase A2

Tnf :

Tumor necrosis factor

Tlrs :

Toll-like receptors

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB127301, 2012CB124704, 2012CB126305), NSFC (31330075, 31101729, 31301989, 31101730, 31201813, 31301988), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (13JJ2034), Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation (No. 2013CL06), Changsha University of Science & Technology, P. R. China, Hubei Provincial Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2010BB023), Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2012FFB04805), Hubei One Hundred Talent Program, and Texas A&M AgriLife Research (H-82000).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central China, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, Hunan, China

    Wenkai Ren, Jielin Duan, Jie Yin, Gang Liu, Xia Xiong, Shuai Chen, Tiejun Li & Yulong Yin

  2. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China

    Gang Liu & Zhong Cao

  3. Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Animal Nutrition and Feed Safety, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, China

    Yulong Yin, Yongqing Hou & Guoyao Wu

  4. Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Guoyao Wu

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  1. Wenkai Ren
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  2. Jielin Duan
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  3. Jie Yin
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  4. Gang Liu
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  6. Xia Xiong
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  7. Shuai Chen
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  9. Yulong Yin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xia Xiong.

Additional information

W. Ren and J. Duan contributed equally to the present study.

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Ren, W., Duan, J., Yin, J. et al. Dietary l-glutamine supplementation modulates microbial community and activates innate immunity in the mouse intestine. Amino Acids 46, 2403–2413 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1793-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1793-0

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