Abstract
When the clinical course in low birth weight (LBW) infants is complicated by extreme immaturity, respiratory distress, or hyperbilirubinemia, the peroral route of feeding becomes difficult. In an attempt to investigate whether the carloric demands could be met by intravenous fat infusions, fat loads were performed in normal LBW infants. The fat was given as 20% Intralipid (a soybean oil emulsion) either in single injections or during extended infusions. The concentration of total lipids was followed in serum samples, and the distribution of the lipoproteins was evaluated by means of agar gel electrophoresis. In preterm infants the maximal removal capacity of fat from the intravascular compartment corresponded to some 6-8 g fat/kg in 24 hr. The fat particules injected had a half-life of 1-5 min. In small-for-date infants the initial maximal removal capacity was of the same order but the removal rate rapidly decreased concomitant with the apperance of a secondary generation of fat particles in the blood stream. These were identified as pre-β-lipoproteins on the gel electrophoresis and were considered to originate in the liver. It is speculated that the slower removal of exogenous fat from the intravascular compartment of the small-for-date infants is due to a competition with the pre-β-lipopreoteins for the same elimination mechanisms.
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Gustafson, A., Kjellmer, I., Olegåed, R. et al. 15. Intravenous fat loads in low birth weight infants. Pediatr Res 5, 86 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197102000-00020
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197102000-00020