Nutritional supplements in milk from mothers of premature infants: The impact of iron, vitamin C, TrivisolRTM and microlipids on lipid oxidation

Iron, vitamin C supplements for premature infants may induce lipid oxidation due to free radical formation by Fenton chemistry when added to breast milk (BM) in vitro and on cultured intestinal cells. Fox-2, TBARS and conjugated dienes assays measured lipid oxidation. Fatty acid composition was measured by GC. Immunostaining, redox potential and caspase-3 activation assays examined cellular changes.; Lipid peroxides increased from 8.8+/-0.7muM to 24.7+/-1.2muM and TBARS increased from 0.36+/-0.1muM to 0.96+/-0.1muM with 1.8mM iron in BM. Vitamin C and iron in BM led to decreased peroxides than iron in BM alone. Vitamins A and D exhibited antioxidant activity. Superoxide dismutase and catalase decreased the effects of ROS. Iron exhibited significant oxidative stress in all cellular assays. Oxidative stress due to enteral supplementation may contribute to necrotizing enterocolitis. SOD and CAT used clinically may decrease oxidative. Further research is required to investigate the effects of lipid oxidation in vivo with an animal model.