Urinary 5-L-oxoproline (pyroglutamic acid) excretion is greater in infants in Jamaica than in infants in England.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the pattern of excretion in urine of 5-L-oxoproline, as a measure of glycine status, during the first six weeks of life in Jamaican infants. DESIGN: Spot samples of urine were collected from term and preterm infants at birth and longitudinally to four weeks of age, or at six weeks of age. 5-L-oxoproline was isolated by column chromatography and hydrolysed to L-glutamic acid, which was measured enzymatically and the results expressed relative to creatinine excretion. SETTING: Maternity wards and postnatal clinic of the University Hospital of the West Indies. SUBJECTS: African-Caribbean infants, 19 term and 21 preterm, from birth to four weeks of age, and 79 term infants at six weeks of age. RESULTS: There were no differences between term and preterm infants. Excretion of 5-L-oxoproline increased progressively from birth, 141 mumol/mmol creatinine, to 270 mumol/mmol creatinine at four weeks of age. At six weeks of age, excretion was significantly greater than at birth or four weeks of age, 525 mumol/mmol creatinine. Compared with infants born in England, the excretion of 5-L-oxoproline was not different at birth, but was significantly greater in Jamaican infants at six weeks of age. CONCLUSIONS: Glycine status, indicated by increased excretion of 5-L-oxoproline, is marginal in Jamaican infants at six weeks of age, and this possibly reflects a limitation in the endogenous biosynthesis of glycine due to a dietary limitation of folate or vitamin B-12.