Relationships between red blood cell vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acid in the premature infant.

Low-birth-weight infants were fed breast milk (BM, n = 25) for 1 of 2 formulas containing 0.5 (PG, n = 32) or 1.7% fatty acids as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)(ALA-PG, n = 31). Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and alpha-tocopherol (alpha T) of RBC membrane phospholipids were measured at days 2 (D2) and 15 (D15) of enteral feeding, and at term. PUFA concentrations did not differ significantly between the 3 groups from D2 to term. The membrane integrity assessed by the alpha T/phospholipids ratio neither changed with time nor differed between formula groups. A metabolic relationship between alpha T and long-chain PUFA in RBC membranes was suggested by multiple regression analysis: alpha T showed a significant positive correlation with docosahexaenoic acid at D15 and term and with arachidonic acid at D15; the correlation with arachidonic acid tended toward significantly (p = 0.06) at term.