Functions and Signaling Pathways of Amino Acids in Intestinal Inflammation

• Published in: BioMed research international Vol. 2018; no. 2018; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Peng, Yuanyi, Zhu, Guoqiang, Zhang, Dong, Li, Nengzhang, Li, Pan, Wu, Chenlu, He, Fang, Ren, Wenkai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 01.01.2018; Hindawi; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: ACE2; Amino acids; Angiotensin; Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Calcium; Calcium oxide; Calcium-sensing receptors; Cell growth; Cytokines; Diarrhea; Diet; Dysbacteriosis; Enterocytes; Homeostasis; Inflammation; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Intestine; Irritable bowel syndrome; Kinases; Large intestine; Lime; Malnutrition; MAP kinase; Metabolism; Mitogens; NF-κB protein; Nitric oxide; Nitric-oxide synthase; Nutrition; Oxidative stress; Protein kinase; Protein kinases; Proteins; Rapamycin; Review; Rodents; Signal transduction; Signaling; Small intestine; TOR protein; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Canada; China
• ISSN: 2314-6133; 2314-6141
• DOI: 10.1155/2018/9171905

Intestine is always exposed to external environment and intestinal microorganism; thus it is more sensitive to dysfunction and dysbiosis, leading to intestinal inflammation, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and diarrhea. An increasing number of studies indicate that dietary amino acids play significant roles in preventing and treating intestinal inflammation. The review aims to summarize the functions and signaling mechanisms of amino acids in intestinal inflammation. Amino acids, including essential amino acids (EAAs), conditionally essential amino acids (CEAAs), and nonessential amino acids (NEAAs), improve the functions of intestinal barrier and expressions of anti-inflammatory cytokines and tight junction proteins but decrease oxidative stress and the apoptosis of enterocytes as well as the expressions of proinflammatory cytokines in the intestinal inflammation. The functions of amino acids are associated with various signaling pathways, including mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), nuclear factor-kappa-B (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), nuclear erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2), general controlled nonrepressed kinase 2 (GCN2), and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).