Abstract
C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase liver protein used clinically to indicate the presence of infection in premature and full-term infants. I found neonatal rabbits respond much less vigorously to a CRP stimulus (IM injection of turpentine) than do adult rabbits. Sera from stimulated and control animals, both neonatal and adult, were depleted of albumin and subjected to 5-15% gradient SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions. Equal amounts of total protein were loaded in each lane. Gels were stained with Coomassie blue. In adult stimulated serum there was a prominent band at about 23,000 daltons, the published molecular weight of reduced CRP. This band was absent in control sera and faintly visible in the lane corresponding to neonatal stimulated serum. To further demonstrate a diminished CRP response in neonatal rabbits, sera were analyzed by Ouchterlony against anti-CRP and anti-alpha2macroglobulin (anti-A2M). A vigorous adult stimulated serum CRP response was found. However only trace amounts of CRP were detected in neonatal stimulated serum and no CRP was detected by this method in either neonatal or adult control sera. In contrast, all four types of sera demonstrated strong precipitin lines with anti-A2M. The observed reduced CRP levels were not due to a shift in response time or dose-response phenomenon. Maximal CRP response for neonates and adults was found to be at 72 hours. Dose response experiments demonstrated a maximum response at 0.58 ml/kg for neonates and 0.45 ml/kg for adult rabbits. Development of the CRP response in human neonates is not known, however these studies suggest that developmental stage may be a factor in interpreting CRP levels in neonates.
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Baker, R. REDUCED NEONATAL C-REACTIVE PROTEIN RESPONSE. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 209 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00257
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00257