Background: Clinically, nutrition support has been an important
component of the care of the hypoperfusion traumatized patient who is unable
to accept complete volitional nutrition. However, enterocyte transport
function during states of intestinal hypoperfusion remains unclear. Glutamine
is essential for the viability and growth of intestine epithelial cells, and
the Na+-dependent neutral amino acid transporter ASCT2 is thought
to mainly mediate glutamine transport. This study aims to quantify the change
of glutamine transporter ASCT2 expression in ischemic injured Caco-2 cell
lines and the regulatory action of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on glutamine
transport and its transporter. Methods: Cells were cultured under
ischemic conditions for 2 hours. After ischemia was performed, Caco-2 cells
were incubated with or without EGF (100 μg/mL) for 0–8 hours. Then we
studied the cell membrane l-glutamine transport, the expression of
ASCT2 protein, and mRNA. Results: After ischemia was performed,
Caco-2 cell membrane glutamine transport decreased significantly (p< .01), and the expression of ASCT2 proteins decreased significantly
compared with control (p < .01). Under ischemic conditions,
expression of ASCT2 mRNA was down-regulated by a real-time polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) method. After EGF incubation for 1–2 hours, the proteins
and mRNA of ASCT2 were reversed to normal levels (p > .05).
Conclusions: In ischemic injured Caco-2 cells, ASCT2 protein
expression and mRNA transcription were involved in the down-regulation of
Na+-dependent glutamine transport. The decrease of glutamine
transport and its transporter under ischemic conditions could be reversed by
EGF action. These findings may help in the choice of the nutrition support
manner and clinical therapy of ischemia-damaged intestinal epithelial
cells.
In this in vitro study, l-glutamine transport and its transporter ASCT2 were found to be significantly decreased in ischemic injured Caco-2 cells. After epidermal growth factor (100 μg/mL) incubation for 1–2 hours, the down-regulation of l-glutamine transport and expression of ASCT2 were reversed.