Malavé I, Vethencourt M A, Pirela M, Cordero R, Baute L, Acuña M, Sousa P
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas, Venezuela.
Arch Latinoam Nutr. 1996 Sep;46(3):203-9.
Due to its short half life and high tryptophan content, prealbumin has been considered a sensitive indicator of protein and/or energy deficiency. In addition, prealbumin diminishes during the acute phase response elicited by either infection or tissue injury. Serum levels of prealbumin were determined in undernourished children with or without associated clinical infection and in their infected or non-infected controls matched for age, sex, race and socioeconomical conditions. Serum levels of prealbumin were significantly lower in undernourished than in control children without overt infections. On the other hand, the concentrations of serum prealbumin diminished significantly and to similar levels both in undernourished and control children with associated clinical infection as compared with those observed in non infected children belonging to the similar nutritional status. A positive correlation was found between prealbumin level and the Z-scores of weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for height in children without associated infections, which disappeared in clinically infected patients. Thus, prealbumin is a marker of undernutrition in the absence of infection and could be an earlier and more sensitive indicator of actual undernutrition caused by the metabolic effects of acute phase cytokines, than the anthropometrical measurements used here.
由于其半衰期短且色氨酸含量高，前白蛋白一直被视为蛋白质和/或能量缺乏的敏感指标。此外，在前白蛋白在由感染或组织损伤引发的急性期反应期间会减少。对伴有或不伴有相关临床感染的营养不良儿童及其年龄、性别、种族和社会经济状况相匹配的感染或未感染对照儿童测定了血清前白蛋白水平。营养不良儿童的血清前白蛋白水平显著低于无明显感染的对照儿童。另一方面，与营养状况相似的未感染儿童相比，伴有相关临床感染的营养不良儿童和对照儿童的血清前白蛋白浓度均显著降低且降至相似水平。在无相关感染的儿童中，前白蛋白水平与年龄别体重、年龄别身高和身高别体重的Z评分之间存在正相关，而在临床感染患者中这种相关性消失。因此，在前白蛋白在无感染时是营养不良的标志物，并且与这里使用的人体测量指标相比，可能是急性期细胞因子代谢效应导致的实际营养不良的更早、更敏感的指标。
