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Decrease of lipase and esterase activities in intestinal contents of newborn infants during test meals
Insights
Newborns have lower lipase and esterase activity in their intestines compared to adults. This may contribute to less efficient infant lipid absorption, suggesting a reliance on other lipase sources.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Digestive Physiology
Background:
- Lipase and esterase activities are crucial for lipid digestion.
- Understanding enzyme activity in newborns is vital for assessing digestive function.
- Infant lipid absorption is often less efficient than in adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare intestinal lipase and esterase activities between newborns and adults.
- To investigate the impact of feeding on these enzyme activities in infants.
- To explore potential reasons for reduced lipid absorption in newborns.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of intestinal contents from newborns and adults.
- Measurement of lipase and esterase activities following a test meal.
- Comparison of enzyme activity levels between the two age groups.
Main Results:
- Lipase and esterase activities were detected in all newborns from day one.
- In adults, lipase activity increased post-meal, while esterase remained stable.
- Infant enzyme activities decreased post-meal and were significantly lower than in adults.
Conclusions:
- Newborns exhibit considerably lower intestinal lipase and esterase activity than adults.
- Incomplete pancreatic function in newborns may lead to reduced lipolytic enzyme output.
- Newborns might depend more on alternative lipase sources, like human milk lipase.
Abstract:
Both lipase and esterase activities were present in intestinal contents of all newborns studied, from the first day of life. In adults given a test meal lipase activity increased and esterase activity remained unchanged. In contrast, both activities decreased markedly in infants on feeding. During the digestion of the test meal the lipase activity in intestinal contents of the infants was much lower than in adults (ratio of median values 1:27) and the esterase activity was also several fold lower (ratio of median values 1:1.3). Speculation Newborn infants often absorb lipids less efficiently than adults. One contributing factor may be that their incompletely developed pancreas responds to feedings with comparatively low outputs of lipolytic enzymes. The newborn may be more dependent than adults on auxiliary sources of lipase activity such as the pharyngeal lipase and/or the bile-stimulated lipase in human milk.