[Quantification of fecal excretion of trace elements in newborns as expression of fetal intestinal secretion]

Trace elements have acquired major importance in the knowledge concerning corporal composition and in the comprehension of their metabolic participation in organic processes. The objective of this study was to know the concentration of trace elements in biological material (serum, meconium and feces) from preterm and fullterm infants during the neonatal period.

Concentrations of Al, Ca, Cr Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, P, Pb and Zn were determined simultaneously in stools and serum by induction coupled argon plasma-atomic-emission spectrometry (ICP) of 12 preterm and 38 fullterm infants. Stools were collected for the 1st (meconium), 10th and 20th day and serum on the 10th day.

Compared to serum from preterm infants, fullterm infants had an elevated (p < 0.05) value of potentially toxic trace elements (Al and Pb). Compared meconium from fullterm infants, preterm infants had an elevated excretion of Cu (p < 0.001) and Fe (p < 0.01). Compared to stools from the 10 and 20th day from preterm infants, fullterm infants had an elevated excretion of Fe (p < 0.05). Stool excretion of all of the trace elements increases throughout the days during the neonatal period, whereas Mn decreases.

The mineral content of meconium and stools in newborns rarely has been described and ICP is an interesting method of assessment of trace elements in these biological samples during the neonatal period.