Abstract
Low birth weight (L.B.W.) infants absorb fats with greater difficulty than normal term infants. The possible role played by intestinal bile acid concentrations (B.A.C.) in this defect was studied. Seventeen L.B.W. infants aged 10 to 34 days weighing 1540–2300 Gm. (mean-1790) were intubated and duodenal contents were aspirated for a period of one hour starting between 2–3 hours after feedings of unsaturated fat formula. Aspirates were kept on ice and were subsequently assayed for lipase activity and total B.A.C. (Method of Iwata). Concurrent 48 hr. stool collections were analyzed for fat. Lipase activity was normal in all infants (6.5–16 I.U./ml.). In infants with duodenal B.A.C. below 2mM/L (critical micellar concentration) coefficients of fat absorption were 48%-77% (normal 80%). In 7 of 8 infants with levels greater than 2mM/L, fat absorption was above 80%. Attempts to correlate ages or weights of the infants with levels of fat absorption did not yield consistent relationships. However, when age of the infants was related to total B.A.C, 10–19 day old infants (12) showed a mean value of 2.07 ± 1.3 mM/L, compared to 20–34 day old infants (7) with a mean of 5.8 ± 2.7 mM/L. Control babies of three weeks to 8 mos. of age (8) had a mean B.A.C. of 6.8 ± 2.7. Four younger L.B.W. infants were restudied after 2–3 weeks and showed a three-fold rise in B.A.C. Conclusions from these preliminary studies indicate that L.B.W. infants display lower levels of duodenal B.A.C. than do older and larger infants. There is a good inverse correlation between B.A.C. and steatorrhea.
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Lavy, U., Silverberg, M. & Davidson, M. Role of bile acids in fat absorption in low birth weights infants. Pediatr Res 5, 387 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00068
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00068
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