Rehydration and nutritional management

Trace metal zinc stimulates secretion of antimicrobial peptide LL-37 from Caco-2 cells through ERK and p38 MAP kinase

Infectious diseases, especially, diarrhoea, are responsible for high mortality rates in developing countries. Zinc supplementation shows beneficial effects against such diseases, but the mechanism of action is poorly understood. Here, we examined whether zinc supplementation can improve mucosal innate immunity through induction of antimicrobial peptide secretion from intestinal epithelial cells. Zinc was found to induce secretion of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 from Caco-2 cell in a dose (0.63±0.09ng/mL and 0.54±0.06ng/mL at 20μM and 50μM respectively) and time dependent manner. LL-37 secretion increased immediately (1h) after exposure to 20μM Zn (0.29±0.04ng/mL), which continued up to 48h of exposure (0.58±0.05ng/mL). Zinc induces the phosphorylation of ERK and p38 MAP kinase and regulates LL-37 secretion through these MAP kinases. Zinc supplementation may have beneficial effects on mucosal innate immunity via secretion of LL-37.

Are you overlooking oral rehydration therapy in childhood diarrhea? It's not just for use in developing countries

In 1978, Lancet declared that development of effective oral rehydration solutions might prove to be the most important medical advance of the century. Since then, according to estimates of the World Health Organization, use of the solutions has saved a million children a year worldwide. Why, then, has this method of treating diarrhea-induced dehydration been so overlooked in the United States, where several hundred children still die annually of effects of diarrhea? One reason, the authors believe, is that physicians in developed countries have only limited exposure to serious dehydration and so are poorly informed on the principles of intervention. The authors provide practical advice on assessing dehydration in children, providing initial and maintenance rehydration, and reinstituting feeding.