Published online December 31, 2007
PEDIATRICS Vol. 121 No. 1 January 2008, pp. e180-e186 (doi:10.1542/peds.2007-1461)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Amin, H.
Right arrow Articles by Sigalet, D. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Amin, H.
Right arrow Articles by Sigalet, D. L.
Related Collections
Right arrow Nutrition & Metabolism
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Functional Ontogeny of the Proglucagon-Derived Peptide Axis in the Premature Human Neonate

Harish Amin, MDa, Jens J. Holst, PhDb, Bolette Hartmann, PhDb, Laurie Wallace, BScc, Jim Wright, MD, PhDd and David L. Sigalet, MD, PhDc,e

a Department of Neonatology, Foothills Hospital
c GI Research Group, III Institute
d Departments of Pathology
e Surgery, Alberta Children's Hospital, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
b Department of Physiology, Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

BACKGROUND. The regulation of intestinal growth and development in human neonates is incompletely understood, which hinders the provision of nutrients enterally. The "hindgut" hormones glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 have been shown to play an important role in the regulation of nutrient assimilation, intestinal growth, and function.

OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to investigate the production of glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 in premature human infants and examine the effects of prematurity and feeding on hormone release.

PATIENTS AND METHODS. With informed consent, premature infants who were admitted to a tertiary neonatal intensive care nursery (gestational age: 28–32 weeks) were monitored with weekly determinations of postprandial glucagon-like peptide 1 and 2 levels. Comparison studies with groups of normal infants and adults were performed. Hormone levels were obtained by using specific radioimmunoassay for glucagon-like peptide 1 (1–36) and glucagon-like peptide 2 (1–33), modified for small sample volumes; accurate monitoring of enteral intake was performed at all of the sampling time points.

RESULTS. Forty-five infants with a mean gestational age of 29.6 ± 1.9 weeks were studied; fasting levels of both glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 were elevated. There was no correlation between gestational age and glucagon-like peptide 2 output. However, both glucagon-like peptide 1 and 2 levels were correlated with the caloric value of feeds.

CONCLUSIONS. The premature human neonate has significantly higher fasting levels of glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 compared with adults; feeding increases these levels further. These findings suggest that the proglucagon-derived peptides may have a role in normal intestinal development and nutrient handling.

Key Words: neonatal feeding • GLP-1 • GLP-2 • gut development • necrotizing enterocolitis

Abbreviations: PGDP—proglucagon-derived peptide • GLP—glucagon-like peptide • DPP—dipeptidyl peptidase

Accepted Jul 19, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Eur J EndocrinolHome page
R. Padidela, M. Patterson, N. Sharief, M. Ghatei, and K. Hussain
Elevated basal and post-feed glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) concentrations in the neonatal period
Eur. J. Endocrinol., January 1, 2009; 160(1): 53 - 58.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]