The enteral formula supplemented with synbiotics was well tolerated by children in intensive care units; it was safe and produced an increase in faecal bacterial groups of previously reported beneficial effects.

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Probiotics and long-chain PUFA (LC-PUFA) may be beneficial supplements for infants who are not breast-fed. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the safety of an infant formula containing the LC-PUFA DHA and arachidonic acid (AA) and the probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis by comparing the growth rate of infants fed the supplemented and unsupplemented formulas. One hundred and forty-two healthy, term infants were enrolled in a single-centre, randomised, double-blind, controlled, parallel-group trial, and allocated to receive either standard or probiotic and LC-PUFA-containing experimental formulas. The infants were fed with their assigned formulas for 7 months. The primary outcome (weight gain) and the secondary outcomes (length, head circumference and formula tolerance) were measured throughout the study. LC-PUFA status was assessed at 4 months of age and immune response to childhood vaccines was measured at 7 months of age. There was no significant difference in growth between the two groups. The 90 % CI for the difference in mean weight gain was 2 0·08, 3·1 g in the intention-to-treat population and 0·1 -3·8 g in the per protocol population, which lay within the predefined boundaries of equivalence, 2 3·9 -3·9. There were no significant differences in mean length and head circumference. DHA and AA concentrations were higher in infants in the experimental formula group compared with the control formula group. No influence of the supplements on the response to vaccines was observed. Growth characteristics of term infants fed the starter formula containing a probiotic and LC-PUFA were similar to standard formula-fed infants.

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SUMMARY1. The composition of the efflux from desheathed rabbit vagus nerve, loaded with radioactivity by incubation in [3H]adenosine, was studied at rest and during electrical activity and after application of inhibitors of ecto-enzymes and modifications of intermediary metabolism. In addition, the degradation ofexternally applied ATP and adenosine was examined.2.[3H]ATP applied to the incubation medium was degraded to ADP, AMP, adenosine and inosine. The hydrolysis to nucleosides was inhibited by a, ,8-methylene ADP; the appearance of AMP and nucleosides was slowed by fi, y-methylene ATP.Deamination of [3H]adenosine was blocked by 2-deoxycoformycin. 3. The effluent from resting and stimulated preparations showed the presence of large amounts of inosine and hypoxanthine, smaller amounts of adenosine and adenine and traces of nucleotides. The composition of the effluent was not significantly altered by addition of a, fl-methylene ADP; fi, y-methylene ATP or 2-deoxycoformycin.4. Application of glucose-free solutions caused a large release of adenosine instead of inosine and hypoxanthine and a small increase in resting and stimulated efflux of 3H. Addition of 2-deoxyglucose produced a large increase in resting efflux and increased liberation of adenosine. Cyanide, 2, 4-dinitrophenol, arsenate or salicylate increased the resting efflux of adenosine, inosine and hypoxanthine, and the effect of activity.5. It is concluded that electrical activity leads to release of adenosine, inosine and hypoxanthine, in various proportions depending on metabolic state, and that there is practically no liberation of nucleotides from nerve axons.