Letter to the Editor NEPHRON Nephron 1997;76:225-226 Urinary Excretion of Human Epidermal Growth Factor in Premature Infants Requiring Assisted Ventilation over the First Week of Life 3 4 5 Time (days after birth) Fig. 1 . Variations of urinary hEGF levels, expressed as mean val ues. during the first 7 days of assisted ventilation on two groups of asphyxiated preterm newborns. O = Group A (mechanical ventila tion); • = group B (oxygen tent). Mario Plebani*'b Vassilios Fanosc Michele Mussap a Massimo De Paoli3 Bassem .1. Khooryc Ezio Maria PadovanP Department of Laboratory Medicine, Central Laboratory, Azienda Ospedaliera, Padova. Center of Biochemical Research. Castelfranco Veneto, University of Padova, and Pediatrics Department, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. University of Verona. Italy Dear Sir, Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF), a 53-amino-acid polypeptide with a molecu lar mass of about 6.045-6.200 D [!]. is syn thesized in the kidney by the distal convolute tubules and the thick ascending loop of Henle [2], hEGF can be measured in numer ous body tluids. including saliva, pancreatic juice, sperm, amniotic fluid and urine. Pre vious reports have shown that in newborns, urinary hEGF excretion is related to devel opment and maturation, depending on renal function [3. 4]. Urinary hEGF excretion, moreover, increases linearly with gestational age [5]. We studied urinary ItEFG excretion over the first week of life in 12 premature infants with severe respiratory distress syn drome (RDS), in order to ascertain whether there is a relationship between the severity of renal damage from neonatal asphyxia, de fined as a i-min Apgar score of less than 6, and the urinary hEGF concentration. Imme diately after birth, the neonates, who re quired assisted ventilation, were admitted to the Neonatal Care Unit at the Pediatric De partment of the University of Verona. In 1 case delivery was spontaneous, and in the remaining 11 cesarian section had been per formed. None of the newborns had congeni tal abnormalities, such as heart, renal or chromosomal disorders. Informed consent was obtained from all the patient’s parents. Six newborns (group A) were put on mechan ical ventilation for 7 days (gestational age. assessed according to Dubowitz et al. [6], 27-34 weeks, birth weight 900-2,600 g, I- min Apgar score 1-5; 3 had prior intubation before to assess their 5-min Apgar score, while in the remaining 3 this value ranged from 5 to 6). The remaining 6 newborns (group B) were put in oxygen tents for 7 days (gestational age 31-34 weeks, birth weight 1.600-2,170 g, 1 -min Apgar score 3-6 and 5- min Apgar score 7-8). Twelve-hour urine samples were collected every day from birth up to the 7th day of life using a bladder cath eter in group A and a sterile bag in group B. Sediment-free urine samples were imme diately frozen at -20°C until analyzed. Quantitative estimation of hEGF was made using a radioimmunological (RIA) method KARGER E-Mail ka rger(aka rgcr.ch Fax ♦ 4 1 61 306 12 34 http://www. karger, ch • 1997 S. Karger AG. Basel 0028-2766/97/0762-0225S12.00/0 This article is also accessible online at: http://BioMcdNet.com / karger Mario Plcbani. MD Laboratorio Centrale Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova Via Nicolö Giustiniani 2 1-35128 Padova (Italy)