Biotin supplementation affects lymphocyte carboxylases and plasma biotin in severe protein-energy malnutrition

Antonio Velázquez, Margarita Terán, Armida Báez, Judith Gutiérrez, Rocio Rodríguez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We studied the effect of a supplement of biotin (10 mg/d) or a placebo under double-blind conditions on plasma biotin concentrations and lymphocyte propionyl CoA carboxylase (PCC) and pyruvate carboxylase (PC) in 22 children with severe protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) (5 with kwashiorkor, 10 with marasmus, and 7 'sugar babies'). There were significant differences between the malnourished and control subjects only for PCC, although not among the three PEM types. Six of the patients had both PC and PCC activities below the lowest of the normal control subjects; there was no correlation between biotin concentrations and carboxylase activities in individual patients. In response to biotin supplementation, the greatest change in lymphocyte carboxylase activities was detected in patients who bad abnormally decreased initial carboxylase activities, but the response was not related to initial plasma biotin concentration. These results indicate that these enzyme deficiencies are the result of a nutritionally determined biotin deficiency, that carboxylases and especially PCC are better indicators of the biotin status in individual patients than is the plasma biotin concentration, and that in some malnourished patients biotin deficiency may be rate-limiting in their nutritional homeostasis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)385-391
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Volume61
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1995
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Nutrition and Dietetics

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