Plasma citrulline concentration as a biomarker for bowel absorptive function in neonates with enterostomy / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of serum citrulline levels in evaluating the remnant bowel absorptive function with enterostomy in the neonatal period by means of tandem mass spectrum so as to guide clinical treatment with parenteral nutrition(PN) or not.Methods The serum amino acid profiles of 30 enterostomy infants including small intestinal enterostomy 17 cases of enterostomy and 13 cases of colon enterostomy and 20 cases of control infants in Wuhan Children's Hospital,Tongji Medical College University of Science & Technology from January 2016 to June 2018 were performed by using tandem mass spectrum,and the related amino acid with the bowel absorbing ability-citrulline was screened out.The Pearson correlation of the serum citrulline levels with the gain weight of the infants was studied.Results The weight of small intestinal enterostomy was significantly lower than colon enterostomy and control infants [(3.22 ± 1.00) kg vs.(5.63 ± 0.66) kg and (6.09 ± 0.85) kg],and there was statistical significance (F =57.23,P ＜ 0.05).Serum citrulline levels were significantly lower in small intestinal enterostomy compared with colon enterostomy and controls [(10.65 ± 5.82) μmol/L vs.(16.57 ± 4.33) μmol/L and (16.52 ± 4.20) μmol/L],and there was statistical significance (F =8.29,P ＜ 0.05).In enterostomy infants serum citrulline was positively correlated with gain weight everyday(r =0.65,P ＜ 0.05).Serum citrulline level ＜ 12 μmol/L had 81.3％ sensitivity and 71.4％ specificity for underweight.Conclusions Serum citrulline is a simple and accurate biomarker for evaluation of the absorptive function and adaptation of the enterostomy infants.Serum citrulline level ＜ 12 μmol/L is a strong predictor of PN-dependence in infants with temporary enterostomy.