Relationship between plasma triglycerides and apolipoprotein CII in infants during the first year of life

Abstract

Plasma triglyceride and apolipoprotein CII (apo CII) levels were measured in normal full-term infants and low-birth-weight infants at birth (from umbilical cord blood at 0 weeks), as well as at 2, 3, 4, 8, 24, and 48 weeks of age, and the relationship between plasma triglyceride and apo CII levels was studied. In both full-term and low-birth-weight infants, the plasma triglyceride and apoprotein CII levels were very low at birth, but they increased rapidly thereafter in the full-term infants and somewhat more slowly in the low-birth-weight infants. Both triglyceride and apoprotein CII levels became stable from 3 weeks of age in full-term infants and from 8 weeks in low-birth-weight infants. When the logarithmic values of triglyceride and apoprotein CII levels were compared, they showed a close correlation, and slopes of regression lines were 0.62 in full-term infants aged 0-2 weeks, 1.04 in full-term infants aged 3-48 weeks, 0.56 in low-birth-weight infants aged 0-4 weeks, and 1.04 in low-birth-weight infants aged 8-48 weeks. These results suggest that there may be some differences in triglyceride transport between full-term infants aged 0-2 weeks and 3-48 weeks as well as between low-birth-weight infants aged 0-4 weeks and 8-48 weeks.