Clinical Use of Glutamine

Glutamine is a neutral amino acid that is electrophysiologically inert (1). Glutamine is by far the most abundant free amino acid in plasma and tissues in humans and plays a number of important physiological roles (2,3,4). In skeletal muscle glutamine alone accounts for more than 60% of the free amino acid pool (5).

Glutamine is an important conditionally essential amino acid with roles related with the immune response to muscle damage, and is also utilized as an energy source by lymphocytes and macrophages (6). Glutamine is also a component of cerebrospinal fluid, intestinal mucose and imunne cells as an energy substrate, and also serves as a nitrogen shuttle.

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