An Application of Growth Factor for the Maturation of Premature Infants

肌醇是磷脂酰肌醇的一种成分，磷脂酰肌醇是生长因子的第二信使。近年来，肌醇生长因子的作用越来越受到人们的关注。早产儿的生长需要多种生长因子，这些生长因子的作用应该组织得很好。本研究旨在阐明生长因子在早产儿肌醇中的作用。采用气相色谱法测定新生儿羊水和血清中的肌醇含量。羊水和新生儿血清中肌醇浓度与妊娠期呈负相关。艾尔·周。极低出生体重的新生儿血清中肌醇浓度最高。这些结果表明肌醇可能对极低出生体重儿的正常生长有一定的作用。为了确定肌醇对基因表达的影响，我们采用了逆转录聚合酶链反应（PCR）来测定细胞中的信使RNA水平。为了证实这一方法，我们分析了杜氏肌营养不良症（DMD）患者的信使RNA。信使RNA被很好地逆转录并通过PCR扩增。在一名外显子19缺失非常小的DMD患者中，我们分析了信使RNA序列，发现在信使RNA成熟过程中缺失的外显子被跳过。结果表明，我们的方法是有效的，而且信使RNA的成熟受外显子序列的控制。由于我们可以建立信使RNA的分析方法，我们将利用该方法进一步分析肌醇的生长因子作用机制。

Myo-inositol is a constituent of phosphatidyl-inositol which is known as a second messenger of growth factor. Recently many attentions have been paid for the action of growth factor of myo-inositol. In premature babies who need many growth factors for their growth, the actions of those growth factors should be well organized.Our study is aimed to clarify the growth factor action of myo-inositol in premature baby. We measured myo-inositol in amniotic fluid and serum of the neonates by gas-chromatography. The concentrations of myo-inositol in both amniotic fluid and neonatal serum were reversely correlated with the gestation. al weeks. And very low birth weight neonates showed the highest concentration of Myo-inositol in the serum. These results suggested myo-inositol might have some function for the normal growth of very low birth weight infants.To determine the effect for gene expression of myo-inositol, we employed a reverse-transcriptase polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to determine messenger RNA levels in cell. To confirm this method, we analyzed messenger RNA of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patient. The messenger RNA was well reverse-transcribed and amplified by PCR. In one patient with DMD who has a very small deletion within exon 19, we analyzed messenger RNA sequence and found that the exon with the deletion was skipped during maturation of messenger RNA. This result showed not only our method was useful but also the maturation of messenger RNA is controlled by exon sequence.Since we could establish the method for analysis of messenger RNA, we will further analyze the mechanism of growth factor action of myo-inositol by using this method.