Over-starvation aggravates intestinal injury and promotes bacterial and endotoxin translocation under high-altitude hypoxic environment

Table 1 Morphological manifestations of intestinal mucosa in different groups (mean ± SD)

Group	Rats (n)	Height of villi	Thickness of mucosa	Villous area (m2)
C	10	242 ± 19	380 ± 4	15324 ± 1027
H	10	228 ± 23a	296 ± 7b	13450 ± 999b
HH	10	200 ± 24b	314 ± 7b	11341 ± 997b
HG	10	215 ± 23c	370 ± 9d	12901 ± 989d

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs group C;

^cP < 0.05,

^dP < 0.01 vs group H. C: Control group; H: Hypobaric hypoxia group; HH: Hypobaric hypoxia plus starvation group; HG: Hypobaric hypoxia plus Gln group.

Table 2 Bacteria translocation in different organs (mean ± SD)

Group	Rats (n)	Heart	Liver	Spleen	Lung	Lymph node	Blood	Bacteria translocation
C	10	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
H	10	0.00	0.00	1.5 ± 0.85	0.00	1.3 ± 0.95	0.00	0.47 ± 0.83a
HH	10	2.5 ± 0.85	2.9 ± 1.21	3.1 ± 1.21	2.6 ± 1.07	3.2 ± 1.03	0.00	2.45 ± 1.36a
HG	10	0.00	0.00	0.7 ± 0.48	0.00	0.6 ± 0.52	0.00	0.22 ± 0.42c

^aP < 0.05 vs group C,

^cP < 0.05 vs groups H and HH. C: Control group; H: Hypobaric hypoxia group; HH: Hypobaric hypoxia plus starvation group; HG: Hypobaric hypoxia plus Gln group.

Table 3 Serum diamino oxidase and glutamine levels in different groups (mean ± SD)

Group	Rats (n)	DAO (kU/L)	Gln (mmol/L)
C	10	0.861 ± 0.359	3.083 ± 0.186
H	10	3.533 ± 0.584b	1.472 ± 0.079b
HH	10	4.991 ± 0.813b	1.075 ± 0.150b
HG	10	1.810 ± 0.450a	1.951 ± 0.070a

^aP < 0.05 vs groups H and HH;

^bP < 0.01 vs group C. DAO: Diamino oxidase; Gln: Glutamine; C: Control group; H: Hypobaric hypoxia group; HH: Hypobaric hypoxia plus starvation group; HG: Hypobaric hypoxia plus Gln group.

Table 4 Intestinal diamino oxidase and glutamine levels in different groups (mean ± SD)

Group	Rats (n)	DAO (kU/L)	Gln (mmol/L)
C	10	0.516 ± 0.062	3.083 ± 0.186
H	10	0.325 ± 0.053b	1.472 ± 0.079b
HH	10	0.271 ± 0.042b	1.075 ± 0.150b
HG	10	0.431 ± 0.049a	1.951 ± 0.070a

^aP < 0.05 vs groups H and HH,

^bP < 0.01 vs group C. DAO: Diamino oxidase; Gln: Glutamine; C: Control group; H: Hypobaric hypoxia group; HH: Hypobaric hypoxia plus starvation group; HG: Hypobaric hypoxia plus Gln group.

Table 5 Serum malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, superoxide dismutase and endotoxin levels in different groups (mean ± SD)

Group	Rats(n)	endotoxin (kEU/L)	MDA(mol/L)	SOD(kU/L)	NO(mol/L)
C	10	0.032 ± 0.003	6.332 ± 0.649	146.659 ± 3.554	31.097 ± 1.491
H	10	0.277 ± 0.053b	9.732 ± 0.675b	66.550 ± 6.144b	23.397 ± 1.909b
HH	10	0.582 ± 0.061b	13.157 ± 0.848b	46.851 ± 3.183b	19.586 ± 1.203b
HG	10	0.113 ± 0.015a	7.183 ± 0.497a	119.682 ± 5.481a	27.584 ± 1.168a

^aP < 0.05 vs groups H and HH,

^bP < 0. 01 vs group C. MDA: Malondialdehyde; SOD: Superoxide dismutase; C: Control group; H: Hypobaric hypoxia group; HH: Hypobaric hypoxia plus starvation group; HG: Hypobaric hypoxia plus Gln group; NO: Nitric oxide.