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Topical Area: Maternal, Perinatal and Pediatric Nutrition

Maternal, Perinatal and Pediatric Nutrition (I) (Poster Session)

(P07-059-23) Temporal Pattern of P-Cresol Production in Infants Revealed by Fecal Metabolomic Analysis

Saturday, July 22, 2023

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET

Location: Poster Board 191

Presenting Author(s)

Rui Su, PhD (she/her/hers)

PhD student, research assistant
University of Minnesota
ST PAUL, Minnesota, United States

Co-Author(s)

SH

Suzie Hoops

University of Minnesota
IM

Islam Mabrouk

University of Minnesota
Dan Knights, PhD

University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
JG

Jeffrey S. Gerber

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
SM

Sagori Mukhopadhyay

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
KP

Karen Puopolo

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
CC

Chi Chen, Dr

Associate Professor
University of Minnesota
St Paul, Minnesota, United States

Disclosure(s):

Rui Su: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: As a microbial degradation product of tyrosine, p-cresol can be formed by a one-step C-C cleavage reaction catalyzed by tyrosine lyase, or by the decarboxylation of 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (HPAA), an intermediate metabolite from the transamination and oxidation reactions on tyrosine. Previous studies have implicated p</em>-cresol in multiple pathological events, including cytotoxicity in renal and cardiovascular systems and autistic symptoms in children. However, there is a paucity of information on p-cresol production in infants whose gut microbiomes are under development for producing functional metabolites.

Methods: Total 250 fecal samples were collected from 138 healthy infants born at full-term at the ages of 1, 4, 12, and 24 weeks. The concentrations of p-cresol, HPAA, tyrosine, and other free amino acids were determined by dansyl chloride-based chemical derivatization and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomic analysis.

Results: Fecal concentrations of many free amino acids continuously increased from week 1 to 24 while the lowest concentrations of tyrosine were observed at week 4. Using ≥ 0.02 in HPAA/tyrosine and p</em>-cresol/tyrosine ratios (2% conversion rate) as the cut-off value for tyrosine degradation activities, the formation of HPAA was detected in 21%, 28%, 41%, and 59% of infants at week 1, 4, 12, and 24, respectively, while p-cresol production only occurred in 0%, 6%, 7%, and 17% of infants at week 1, 4, 12, and 24, respectively.

Conclusions: All these observations show the gradual development of microbial tyrosine degradation activity, especially the reaction from HPAA to p-cresol, in infants, and warrant further investigation on the colonization of microbial species responsible for these reactions in early life.

Funding Sources: This project was supported by the NIH grant 1R01AI121383-01A1.