Body temperature and heat production in suckling rat endotoxaemia: Beneficial effects of glutamine

Rectal temperature after injection of rats with (A) saline □, saline plus glutamine ▵, saline plus leucine ▿ or (B) saline plus endotoxin ■, saline plus endotoxin plus glutamine ▴, saline plus endotoxin plus leucine ▾. (C) proportion of rats given endotoxin alone [E], endotoxin plus glutamine [EG], or endotoxin plus leucine [EL] being hypothermic between 90 and 210 minutes. *P < .006 versus E and L groups, Fisher's Exact test.

Respiratory quotient after injection of rats with saline □, saline plus glutamine ▵, saline plus leucine ▿, saline plus endotoxin ■, saline plus endotoxin plus glutamine ▴, or saline plus endotoxin plus leucine ▾. * P < .01 versus control, control plus leucine, and endotoxin plus leucine groups; ** P < .05 versus control plus leucine and endotoxin plus leucine groups, one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test.

Oxygen consumption (VO₂) of rats injected with (A) saline □, saline plus glutamine ▵, saline plus leucine ▿ or (B) saline plus endotoxin ■, saline plus endotoxin plus glutamine ▴, saline plus endotoxin plus leucine ▾. (C) VO₂ averaged from 90 to 210 minutes postinjection with saline [C], saline plus glutamine [SC], saline plus leucine [CL], saline plus endotoxin [E], saline plus endotoxin plus glutamine [EG], or saline plus endotoxin plus leucine [EL]. * P < .01 versus C, ** P < .05 versus C; P < .001 versus CG and CL; ^†P < .05 versus E and CG; P = < .001 versus CL; ^††P < .001 versus CL, one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test.

Endotoxaemia score of rats injected with saline plus endotoxin ■, saline plus endotoxin plus glutamine ▴, saline plus endotoxin plus leucine ▾. *P < .01 versus endotoxin; P < .001 versus endotoxin plus leucine. **P < .001 versus both endotoxin alone and endotoxin plus leucine.

Relationship between VO₂ and rectal temperature in rats injected with (A) endotoxin alone (B) endotoxin plus glutamine, and (C) endotoxin plus leucine. VO₂ was plotted against the mean rectal temperature of the 5 rats in the metabolic cage. R² and P values refer to the linear regression line.