A study of some nitrogenous constituents in the newborn infants and their mothers.

Blood chemistry of 50 newborn infants and their mothers were studied for nitrogenous constituents of blood, i.e. urea, uric acid, creatinine, total proteins and their fractions. Total serum proteins, albumin and fractions of globulin of infants were found significantly lower than their mothers though the cord blood showed direct relationship to that of the maternal serum proteins. Values of total serum proteins of Indian infants were low as compared to their foreign counterparts. By contrast, globulin level was higher. Though the blood urea levels of infants and their mothers were within the normal range, the mean blood urea level of infants was significantly higher than their mothers. No significant difference was found in the mean uric acid and mean creatinine levels of the cord blood and maternal blood.