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Postnatal development of uridine diphosphate glucuronyltransferase activity towards bilirubin and 2-aminophenol in
Insights
Human UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities for 2-aminophenol and bilirubin develop neonatally. These liver enzyme activities show a linear increase in the first three months after birth before stabilizing in infants and children.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Biochemistry
- Pediatric Medicine
Background:
- UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UGT) enzymes are crucial for drug and bilirubin metabolism.
- Differential developmental patterns of UGT activities have been observed across species.
- Understanding neonatal UGT development is vital for drug safety and managing neonatal conditions like jaundice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental trajectory of UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UGT) activities towards 2-aminophenol and bilirubin in human subjects.
- To compare the ontogeny of these UGT activities in humans with findings in other species, particularly rats.
- To establish the relationship between UGT activity and postnatal age in early life.
Main Methods:
- Assay of UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UGT) activities using 2-aminophenol and bilirubin as substrates.
- Study population included 70 human subjects across various age groups: premature neonates, full-term neonates, infants, children, and adults.
- Statistical analysis to determine the relationship between enzyme activity and days after birth.
Main Results:
- Both UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UGT) activities towards 2-aminophenol and bilirubin exhibit neonatal development in humans.
- A linear relationship was observed between the logarithm of UGT activity and the logarithm of postnatal age during the first three months of life.
- Following this initial phase, both UGT activities reached a plateau and remained constant in older infants and children.
Conclusions:
- Human UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UGT) enzyme systems for 2-aminophenol and bilirubin mature postnatally, contrasting with late fetal development in rats.
- The early postnatal period is critical for the development of these key metabolic enzymes.
- The established linear relationship provides a quantitative understanding of UGT ontogeny in early human life.
Abstract:
UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities towards 2-aminophenol and bilirubin were studied in a total of 70 human subjects, including premature and full-term newborn babies, infants, children and adults. These two activities have been reported in rat to develop latefoetally and neonatally respectively, but in man they both develop neonatally. There is a linear relationship between the logarithm of each liver transferase activity and the logarithm of the number of days after birth during the first 3 months of life, after which each activity remains constant.