What is it about?

While critical for brain development, circulating lipids in the fetus are low. In contrast, breastmilk and other forms of postnatal nutrition are high in lipids, leading to high circulating lipid levels after birth. The developmental changes in the cellular machinery and physiological systems for handling high lipid levels are not well understood.

Why is it important?

Preterm and other developmentally-stressed newborns often receive intravenous nutrition high in lipids. Some infants develop pathology related to this high-lipid nutrition. Why some preterm newborns develop pathology and others don't, and the role of maturational "age" is unknown. A better understanding of tissue lipid metabolism changes with post-conceptional age will help understand this problem.

Find this paper at Clinical Science and Pubmed.