We studied the concentration of carnitine and its fractions in peripheral blood in 22 premature infants with fan-associated pneumonia and in 20 conditionally healthy premature infants by tandem mass spectrometry. The birth body weight of children was 2,086.32 ± 117.13 and 2,140.9 ± 74.4 g, gestational age was 33.7 ± 0.41 and 34.16 ± 0.51 weeks, respectively. The concentration of total carnitine was at the lower limit or decreased in 10 (45%) children in the acute period of the disease. 4 newborns with fan-associated pneumonia demonstrated persistent carnitine deficiency: the content of free carnitine was very low: 7.47 – 8, 37 μmol/l (7.97 ± 0.197 μmol/l), the concentration of total carnitine was also reduced (21.55 – 22.01 μmol/l, 21.7 ± 0.366 μmol/l). The fractions of acylcarnitines varied widely throughout the disease. One child had high rates of C18OH (0.282 μmol/l; norm 0–0.110 μmol/l) and C18:1OH (0.282 μmol/l; norm 0–0.180 μmol/l) during the entire neonatal period. It could be associated with mitochondrial trifunctional protein deficiency. The study of total carnitine and its fractions in premature infants with fan-associated pneumonia allowed us to identify violations of its metabolism, both secondary and hereditary at early stage.
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