PLASMA ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE ACTIVITY IN THE PRETERM NEONATE

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Abstract
Rickets was diagnosed clinically and confirmed radiologically in a preterm human infant at 12 wk of age, who died despite therapy with vitamin D. Preterm infants (4) subsequently admitted to the nursery had their biochemistry followed serially as controls. All infants demonstrated a marked increase and then a decrease in plasma alkaline phosphatase activity; the peak value occurring near the expected gestational term. Plasma alkaline phosphatase was of bony origin. Rickets was confirmed radiologically in only 1 of these 4 infants. Rising and markedly elevated plasma alkaline phosphatase activity appears to be common in this group of infants and may represent a physiological increase in osteoblastic activity and increasing bone mineralization in what would have been the infants'' 3rd trimester of pregnancy and immediate newborn period.