Abstract
Serum bile acids and their conjugates were analysed in 20 breast-fed infants with prolonged jaundice. The mean total bile acid levels in serum were increased in the breast-fed infants with jaundice, as compared with those in either breastor bottle-fed infants without jaundice. However, there were no significant differences between the groups. All the breast-fed infants examined, regardless of association with jaundice, had a bile acid pattern dominated by taurine conjugates (the ratio of glycine- to taurine-conjugated bile acid, G/T ratio, less than 1.00). In contrast, the bottle-fed infants without jaundice had a pattern dominated by glycine conjugates (G/T ratio, more than 1.00). Among the breast-fed infants with jaundice, the mean G/T ratio in those who had serum bilirubin levels over 10 mg/100 ml was significantly lower than that in those who had serum bilirubin levels of less than 10 mg/100 ml. The altered bile acid metabolism might be associated with the pathology of breast milk jaundice.
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Abbreviations
- LP-X:
-
lipoprotein-X
References
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Tazawa, Y., Yamada, M., Nakagawa, M. et al. Serum bile acids and their conjugates in breast-fed infants with prolonged jaundice. Eur J Pediatr 144, 37–40 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00491922
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00491922