Changes in red cell phosphate metabolism of preterm and fullterm infants with perinatal problems during their first month of life

The effects of perinatal problems on red cell phosphate metabolism were studied in two groups of infants (preterms B and fullterms D) during the first month of life. All infants started milk feeding from day three after birth. The results were compared to those of healthy preterms (A) and fullterms (C), respectively. Comparisons were also made between the preterm and fullterm groups B and D. The preterms with perinatal problems (B) showed a significant delay in catching up with the plasma and red cell inorganic phosphate (Pi) levels of controls (A) throughout the first month of life (p < 0.05). In parallel, the erythrocyte 2,3 diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) concentrations of the sick preterms lagged significantly behind those of controls (p < 0.001); but the ATP levels were comparable between the two groups. The fullterms behaved slightly differently. No significant differences in plasma Pi (Pl Pi) and red cell 2,3-DPG were seen between the sick and healthy neonates during the month of study, while red cell Pi (RBC Pi) and ATP were found to be lower in the sick ones (p < 0.05). The fullterms with perinatal problems (D) had significantly higher Pl Pi (p < 0.05) and RBC Pi (p < 0.01) than preterms with problems (B) from the first week of life and continued in a similar pattern until the end of the month. Red cell 2,3-DPG concentrations were found to be significantly correlated with Pl Pi and RBC Pi in both preterm groups (p < 0.01) and in the sick fullterms (p < 0.001) during the time of the study. In the healthy fullterms 2,3-DPG was found to correlate only with red cell Pi (p < 0.05). Perinatal problems seem to affect Pi metabolism to a different degree in preterm and fullterm neonates in the first month of life.