Recovery of labeled CO2 from acetate in severely burned children

Area of Science:

• Metabolic Research
• Pediatric Burn Care
• Tracer Kinetics

Background:

• Substrate oxidation studies in severely burned children are crucial for understanding their metabolic state.
• Accurate measurement requires determining the fractional recovery rate of labeled carbon dioxide (CO(2)) in breath.
• Existing data for non-burned adults and exercising individuals may not directly apply to pediatric burn patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the fractional recovery rate of labeled CO(2) in the breath of severely burned children.
• To establish the utility of carbon-labeled fatty acids for substrate oxidation tracer studies in this population.
• To compare recovery rates in burned children to those in non-burned adults and exercising individuals.

Main Methods:

• Nine severely burned children (ages 4-14) participated 7 days post-burn.
• A primed, constant infusion of [1,2-(13)C]acetate was administered during basal and hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp periods.
• Breath samples and indirect calorimetry data were collected to measure isotopic enrichment and CO(2) excretion.

Main Results:

• The fractional recovery of labeled acetate was high, averaging 0.89 +/- 0.05 in the basal state and 0.88 +/- 0.04 during the clamp.
• These recovery rates are approximately three times higher than those reported for non-burned adults.
• The results are comparable to recovery rates observed in exercising adults.

Conclusions:

• Severely burned children exhibit a significantly high fractional recovery rate of labeled CO(2) in their breath.
• This high recovery rate simplifies the correction of expired CO(2) data for tracer studies.
• The findings support the use of (13)C-labeled fatty acids for quantifying fatty acid oxidation in pediatric burn patients with minimal data adjustment.