[13C]adipic acid as a probe of fatty acid oxidation in human subjects: feasibility study and pilot trial of correction of endemic riboflavin deficiency in the Gambia
1991
Bates, C.J. | Edwards, G. | Downes, R. | Coward, A.
Fatty acid catabolism was explored in vivo in human subjects, by a breath [13C]CO2 test, following a test oral dose of [13C]adipic acid (1,4-butane dicarboxylic acid), 5 mg (34.2 micromole)/kg body weight. Peak enrichment of breath CO2 occurred around 100 min after the dose, in both adults and school children. The percentage of the dose which was oxidized within 200 min was greater in the children (mean 11.5%) than in the adults (mean 9.9%). This difference was accounted for by the greater overall CO2 production rate per unit body weight (or surface area) in the children. The percentage oxidized by lactating women (mean, 10.6%) was greater than that oxidized by pregnant women (mean 8.4%). Correction of endemic riboflavin deficiency, by supplementation with 5 to 10 mg riboflavin per day for 2 1/2 weeks, had no significant overall effect on the rate or amount of [13C]adipic acid oxidized, although a paradoxical result was obtained in one subgroup (schoolgirls). The minimum detectable supplementation effect, averaged over all 89 subjects, would have been +/- 14%, for significance at the 5% probability level. Correction of naturally occurring endemic riboflavin deficiency in Gambian subjects thus appears to have no easily detectable effect on their ability to oxidize [13C]adipic acid to [13C]CO2. Further studies will be needed to seek possible transient supplementation effects, effects in younger subjects, or effects which breath [13C]CO2 analyses, after oral dosing, may fail to detect. The [13C]fatty acid probe-procedure appears to be acceptably reproducible, and may be applicable to the study of other nutrition-related functional indices.
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