Urinary excretion of 5-L-oxoproline (pyroglutamic acid) during early life in term and preterm infants
a Institute of Human Nutrition,
University of Southampton, Southampton SO16
7PX, b Neonatal
Medical Unit, Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton, c Department of Child Health,
Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham
Correspondence to: Professor A A Jackson.
Accepted 29 January 1997
Urinary 5-L-oxoproline was measured in term and preterm infants
from shortly after birth until 6 weeks of postnatal age to determine
their ability to synthesise glycine. In term infants the excretion was
five to 10 times that seen in normal adults, increasing from 105 µmol/mmol creatinine in the first 72 hours after birth to 170 µmol/mmol creatinine at 6 weeks of age. There was a significant
inverse linear correlation between the excretion of 5-L-oxoproline and
length of gestation or birthweight. By 6 weeks of age there was no
longer a significant difference in 5-L-oxoproline between term and
preterm infants. There was no difference in the excretion of
5-L-oxoproline between boys and girls, or between infants fed on human
milk or an artificial formula.
If, in part, variability in the excretion of 5-L-oxoproline
is determined by the extent to which the endogenous formation of
glycine is adequate, then glycine formation may be marginal during
early life, more so in preterm than in term infants, providing additional evidence that glycine is a conditionally essential amino
acid in the neonate.
-glutamyl cycle;
protein synthesis;
conditionally essential amino acids
© 1997 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
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