Survival to lipopolysaccharide, cytokine release and phagocyte functions in mice treated with different total parenteral nutrition regimens.

AbstractEffects on host defenses of Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) with long-(LCT) and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) were studied.Survival to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge, blood clearance of Escherichia coli, in vivo and in vitro production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were investigated.In BALB/c mice, LCTs produced a 25% reduction in mortality, compared with controls. TPN performed with a LCT plus MCT mixture reduced mortality by 50%. Spasms appeared after 18 h and 12 h respectively in mice treated with LCT-MCT mixture or LCTs alone, respect to controls (8 h). The LCT-MCT mixture produced a 67% blood clearance of E. coli after 1 h, while the treatment with LCTs alone had no significant effects compared to controls (about 40%). The LCT-MCT mixture induced a 50% increase in chemiluminescence respect to controls. A 33% increase was observed in rats treated with LCTs alone. TNF-α serum levels after challenge with LPS were not modified by any of the triglycerides or t...