MUSCLE AND PLASMA AMINO-ACIDS AND NUTRITIONAL-STATUS IN KIDNEY-TRANSPLANTED CHILDREN

Nutritional status, assessed by anthropometric and biochemical methods , protein and amino-acid (AA) composition and muscle water were evalua ted in 11 kidney transplanted children and in a control group of 10 ch ildren with normal renal function who were undergoing elective surgery . Samples of the rectus abdominis muscle were taken when surgery was p erformed in the control children and when the peritoneal catheter was removed in the transplanted children. The mean time from the transplan tation to the study time was 97 +/- 14 days (range 72-114 days). Heigh t was reduced in the transplanted children compared to the controls bu t skinfold thickness, arm muscle circumference and serum proteins (tot al protein, albumin, transferrin, pseudocholinesterase) were normal. T he body mass index was over the 50' percentile in nine of the eleven c hildren. The muscle contents of total, extracellular, and intracellula r water, alkali-soluble protein (ASP), DNA and the ASP/DNA ratio were not significantly different in transplanted children from those in the controls. Plasma leucine and taurine levels were significantly decrea sed, whereas plasma citrulline and alanine levels and the glycine/seri ne ratio were increased. Muscle threonine, alanine + taurine, glycine and aspartic acid levels as well as the glycine/serine ratio were incr eased in the transplanted children. Transplanted children show an almo st normal muscle AA profile and a plasma AA pattern that seems to be r elated to the prednisone therapy.