POLYAMINE PROFILES IN HUMAN-MILK, INFANT ARTIFICIAL FORMULAS, AND SEMIELEMENTAL DIETS

Using a sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method, we qu antified the concentration of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) in human milk as well as in a representative group of common ly used artificial infant formulas. Variations in polyamine levels wer e also analyzed in human milk during the immediate postnatal period. D uring the first week postpartum, putrescine levels in human milk remai ned very low and varied little, while spermidine and spermine concentr ations rose markedly during the first 3 days, reaching plateau levels that were 12 and eight times higher, respectively, than the values mea sured on day 0. The mean total polyamine concentration was 557 +/- 18 nmol/dl with the following profile: spermine, 313 +/- 16; spermidine, 220 +/- 20; and putrescine, 24 +/- 3.5. In artificial powdered formula s, the polyamine concentration was similar to 10 times lower than in h uman milk, with no difference in putrescine and spermine contents betw een first-age and second-age formulas. By contrast, semi-elemental die ts prepared by hydrolytic procedures using crude extracts of pancreati c enzymes were shown to be major sources of polyamines with a profile similar to that of human milk. Compared with first-age formulas, mean concentrations in spermine and spermidine were 39 and six times higher , respectively, in these semi-elemental diets, whereas putrescine leve ls remained almost equivalent in all types of milk tested. These data indicate that human milk and some semi-elemental diets provide substan tial amounts of spermine and spermidine to neonates and infants that c ould potentially modulate intestinal maturation.