Bone Abstracts

Objectives: To investigate the possible relationship between neonatal anthropometric characteristics and bone turnover and growth markers in a sample of neonates and their mothers, taking into account the size for the gestational age.

Methods: A sample which consisted of 20 small for the gestational age (SGA), appropriate for the gestational age (AGA), and large for the gestational age (LGA) randomly selected term neonates and their 20 mothers were analyzed twice, at birth and at exit. Elisa method was used to measure the osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (RANK), RANK ligand (RANKL), IGF1, IGFBP3, and leptin levels in neonate and maternal serum. Data was analyzed using SPSS Software (16.0).

Results: Birth weight and height were positively correlated with RANKL, IGF1, IGFBP3, and negatively with the ratio OPG:RANKL. The multi-adjusted analysis showed that SGA neonates presented lower RANKL values (β=−0.520, P=0.036) and higher OPG:RANKL ratio (β=0.498, P=0.044) comparing to AGA neonates, while LGA neonates had higher RANK levels than AGA neonates (β=0.593, P=0.022). Moreover, a positive association was shown between neonatal IGFBP3 and maternal IGF1 values at birth (ρ=0.466, P=0.038) and at exit (ρ=0.558, P=0.011) as well as between neonatal and maternal RANK values at birth (ρ=0.464, P=0.039) and at exit (ρ=0.732, P<0.001). Leptin levels did not show any statistically significant results. The kind of birth, the number of birth and the maternal habits (smoking, alcohol and coffee consumption) did not alter these correlations.

Conclusion: These results reveal a remarkable up regulation of OPG:RANKL ratio in SGA neonates, pointing out the role of bone turnover in compensating for the delayed neonatal growth.