Protective effect of glutamine on intestinal injury and bacterial community in rats exposed to hypobaric hypoxia environment

Table 1 Effects of glutamine treatment on visceral indices (mg/g) in experimental rats

Group	Heart	Liver	Kidney	Lung	Spleen
Control	3.900 ± 0.173	28.330 ± 0.513	3.933 ± 0.240	5.433 ± 0.267	2.933 ± 0.117
HH	4.800 ± 0.000b	34.290 ± 0.751b	8.200 ± 0.307b	9.257 ± 0.281d	2.583 ± 0.175a
HG	4.729 ± 0.000	32.960 ± 0.909	6.600 ± 0.860e	8.814 ± 0.451	2.650 ± 0.140

The cardiac, hepatic, renal, and lung indices in SD rats in the HH group were increased compared to the control group, but the spleen index in the HH group decreased. The visceral indices in the HG group had no obvious differences compared to the HH group.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01,

^dP < 0.001 vs Control;

^eP < 0.05 vs HH. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 7, each). Gln: Glutamine; Control: Control group; HH: Hypobaric hypoxia group; HG: Hypobaric hypoxia plus Gln group.

Table 2 Effect of hypoxia and glutamine on intestinal villi and mucosa

Group	Height of villi (μm)	Thickness of mucosa (μm)	Villous area (μm2)
Control	750.800 ± 13.530	283.900 ± 6.096	813.900 ± 56.500
HH	378.300 ± 20.310b	203.700 ± 2.758b	342.200 ± 39.550b
HG	736.300 ± 20.640d	233.700 ± 3.989d	827.400 ± 35.160d

The height of the intestinal villi (P < 0.001) and the thickness of the mucosa (P < 0.001) and villous area (P < 0.001) were decreased in the HH group as compared to the control group and were increased in the HG group as compared to the HH group.

^bP < 0.001 vs Control,

^dP< 0.001 vs HH. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 7, each). Gln: Glutamine; Control: Control; HH: Hypobaric hypoxia group; HG: Hypobaric hypoxia plus Gln group.