Glutamine Enriched Total Parenteral Feeding and Proline Metabolism in Severely Burned Patients

Proline is a non-essential amino acid that helps with collagen formation. Collagen is one of the main ingredients of skin, bone, tendons, and connective tissue. It is thought that proline becomes depleted in burn patients because it is being used in greater than normal quantities to help the injured skin and connective tissue heal. If this is true, then the body must look for alternate energy sources as proline becomes depleted. This study aims to evaluate 1)the metabolic kinetics of the amino acids proline, glutamate, and ornithine and 2) the effects of glutamine supplemented total parenteral nutrition (TPN) on the metabolism of these amino acids.