THE INFLUENCE OF DIETARY NUCLEOTIDES ON ERYTHROCYTE-MEMBRANE FATTY-ACIDS AND PLASMA-LIPIDS IN PRETERM INFANTS

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether a regul ar formula for premature infants supplemented with nucleotides has any influence on plasma lipids and erythrocyte membrane fatty acids. Meth ods: Preterm infants fed either human milk supplemented with human mil k protein (HM, n=14), nucleotide-supplemented preterm formula (NF, n=1 3), or a regular preterm formula (F, n=13) were included in the study. The NF was supplemented with 18.2 mg cytidine monophosphate/l (CMP), 7.0 mg uridine monophosphate/l (UMP), 6.4 mg adenosine monophosphate/l (AMP), 3.0 mg inosine monophosphate/l (IMP) and 3.0 mg guanosine mono phosphate/l (GMP). Results: There were significantly higher concentrat ions of triglycerides (TG) in infants fed NF compared to those fed F ( 191.42 +/- 79.58 vs 108.21 +/- 43.73, p < 0.001, mean +/- SD lipid con centrations, mg/100 ml plasma). Infants fed F had significantly lower concentrations of total cholesterol (94.34 +/- 11.71 vs 115.69 +/- 39. 29, p < 0.01) and TG in plasma (108.21 +/- 43.73 vs 172.27 +/- 68.19, p < 0.001, mean +/- SD lipid concentrations, mg/100 ml plasma) when co mpared to HM-fed infants. There were no significant differences in any of the erythrocyte membrane fatty acids and total long-chain polyunsa turated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) between NF and F during the study period (6 weeks). Furthermore, total LC-PUFA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentrations in red blood cell were not significantly different when infants fed NF were compared to those fed HM. In contrast, however, i nfants fed F had significantly lower concentrations of total n-3 LC-PU FA (p < 0.01) and DHA (p < 0.01) than those found in HM-fed infants. C onclusions: These results do not suggest an effect of nucleotides on t he red blood cell LC-PUFA profile in preterm infants. However, the nuc leotides may increase the concentrations of triglycerides in plasma.