Comparison of Enteral versus Parenteral Feeding in Healthy Human Subjects (Supported by NIH grant GM34695)

Literature suggests that the route of feeding may impact the immune system. This study examines changes in gene expression due to route of feeding in healthy volunteers. Healthy volunteers were fed contniuous parenteral diet or continuous enteral diet for 72 hours Blood samples were collected prior to feeding and 72 hours after feeding. Monocytes were purified using Rosette Sep protocol. We used microarrays to identifiy genes with significantly changed expression.