Threonine Requirement of Neonatal Piglets Receiving Total Parenteral Nutrition Is Considerably Lower than That of Piglets Receiving an Identical Diet Intragastrically

Manuscript received 3 November 1997. Initial reviews completed 5 January 1998. Revision accepted 2 June 1998.

Robert F. P. Bertolo^*, Cathy Z. L. Chen^*, Garson Law^**, Paul B. Pencharz^{, **, , ,} , and Ronald O. Ball^{*, , **, , ,}

^* Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences and  Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1; ^** Department of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2P5;  The Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto; and  Department of Paediatrics and  Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5G 1X8

Evidence is accumulating that the amino acid requirements for neonates receiving total parenteral nutrition (TPN) are significantly different than those for oral feeding and need to be determined. The parenteral threonine requirement was determined in 3-d-old male Yorkshire piglets (n = 25) by examining the effect of varying dietary threonine intakes [0.05-0.6 g/(kg·d)] on phenylalanine oxidation. The diet included adequate energy, total amino acids and phenylalanine, with excess tyrosine. Phenylalanine kinetics were determined from a primed, continuous intravenous infusion of L-[1-¹⁴C]phenylalanine. Phenylalanine oxidation, estimated from the rate of ¹⁴CO₂ released in expired air during isotope infusion, decreased (P < 0.05) as threonine intake increased from 0.05 to 0.15 g/(kg·d) and was low and constant for threonine intakes >0.15 g/(kg·d). Using breakpoint analysis with 95% confidence interval (CI), mean requirement and safe level of parenteral threonine intake were estimated to be 0.19 and 0.21 g/(kg·d), respectively (equivalent to 13 and 14 mg/g amino acids, respectively). To compare these data with those of orally fed controls, we then repeated the experiment by infusing identical diets intragastrically to piglets (n = 25); the varying dietary threonine intakes were 0.1-1.2 g/(kg·d). Employing identical kinetics and analyses, the mean requirement and safe level of oral threonine intake were estimated to be 0.42 and 0.51 g/(kg·d), respectively (equivalent to 28 and 34 mg/g amino acids, respectively). These data demonstrate that the threonine requirement of neonates during TPN is ~45% of the mean oral requirement.

The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 10 October 1998, pp. 1752-1759
Copyright ©1998 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

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