CYTOKINE LEVELS AND NEUTROPHIL PRIMING IN INFANTS WITH GASTROSCHISIS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Infants with gastroschisis often have a prolonged hospital course involving feeding difficulties as well as other complications. Though many studies have looked at type of surgery and timing of repair, many of their results are conflicting. Few studies have looked at inflammatory markers in these infants to determine if they are predisposed to bowel dysfunction. Infants with inflammatory bowel dysfunction are prone to feeding intolerance, necrotizing enterocolitis, and need for further surgical intervention. In a pilot study, we propose to evaluate cord blood samples from infants with gastroschisis and compare them with blood samples from control infants without gastroschisis to determine if there are elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines or evidence of neutrophil priming at birth. This would suggest that a pro-inflammatory state exists in utero and that could potentially identify infants predisposed to post inflammatory bowel dysfunction.