Effects of Standard and/or Glutamine Dipeptide and/or Omega-3 Fatty Ascid-Supplemented Parenteral Nutrition on Neutrophil Functions, Interleukin-8 Level and Length of Stay-A Double Blind,Controlled, Randomised Study

Background and Aims: Protein calorie malnutrition for cancer patients is  related with altered cellular and humoral immunity. Standard TPN and glutamine and lipid emulsion with omega 3 fatty acids were given to  colorectal cancer patients and the effects of these to neutrophil functions and IL-8 levels are compared.Methods: Consecutive 36 patients with colorectal cancer diagnosed with endoscopic biopsy and with malnutrition determined by subjective global assessment were enrolled to study. The patients are randomly divided into four groups. Standard TPN to control group, TPN with glutamine solution to S-D group, TPN with omega 3 fatty acid solution to S-O group and TPN with omega 3 fatty acids solution and glutamine to S-D-O group were given for seven days after the operation. At the preoperative, postoperative first day and 7th day, neutrophil phagocytosis index, neutrophil adhesivity index and IL-8 levels were determined.Results: In all groups compared to control group neutrophil phagocytosis index were increased significantly (p<0.05). The most increasing was in group 3. There wasn’t significant difference between groups about  postoperative first day neutrophil adhesiveness index (p>0.05). At the 7th day the neutrophil adhesivity index for study groups were increased  compared with control group, but there was no significant differences  between groups. There was no significant difference between groups forIL-8 levels.Conclusions: As a result of the study, altered cellular immunity in colorectal cancer patients with malnutrition can be corrected with omega 3 fatty acid emulsions and glutamine added to TPN so the ratio of morbidity and  mortality can be decrease

Effect of the water extracts of propolis on stimulation and inhibition of different cells

The water extracts of propolis (WEP) could inhibit growth of different cell lines namely McCoy, HeLa, SP2/0, HEp-2, and BHK21 and stimulate growth of normal cell named human lymphocyte, rat kidney, rat liver, and rat spleen. In these experiments 1 and 2 mg of WEP were added to 1 ml RPMI media with 5% FCS. Cell counts and cell viability of propolis-treated and propolis-free cells were assessed by Trypan blue dye exclusion test and MTT assay. The results showed that in case of McCoy, HeLa, SP20, HEp-2, and BHK21 cell lines, the water extracts of propolis could inhibit cell growth as well as reduction on size of the cells. In contrast the same amount of WEP could stimulate growth of normal cells up to 60% with the same concentration used for cell lines. Thus our study indicates that although WEP consists only of the soluble part of propolis, it enables to inhibit different cell lines and increase growth of normal cells. This indicates also that WEP contains the specific compounds with bioactivity against cell lines. Although propolis contain different number of compounds it is clear that WEP has enough biological compounds useful for the treatment of some diseases, medical and related applications