INFANT GROWTH AND AORTA TOTAL LIPID FATTY-ACIDS

Abnormal fetal and infant growth have increasingly been correlated wit h adult onset cardiovascular disease. To date, there is little known a bout the lipid fatty acid profiles in infant cardiovascular tissue. Th erefore, we analysed total lipid fatty acids from thoracic and abdomin al aorta intima and media from 24 normally grown sudden infant death s yndrome cases. Aorta from small for gestational age (n = 2), failure t o thrive from birth (n = 3), and premature (n = 1) infants were also e xamined. Dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (C20:3n-6) and oleic acid (C18:1n -9) concentrations were significantly lower in the thoracic than in th e abdominal aorta. Similar dietary related differences were found in t he subgroup (n = 15) of infants fed on formula milks. Both abdominal a nd thoracic intimal arachidonic (C20:4n-6) to dihomo-gamma-linolenic a cid ratios were greater in the infants with retarded growth after birt h than in their normally grown counterparts. Growth restriction in inf ancy might disrupt the normal accretion of vascular endothelial polyun saturated fatty acids.