Abstract

BackgroundIn addition to inborn metabolic disorders, altered metabolic profiles were reported to be associated with the risk and prognosis of some non-metabolic diseases, while as a rare metabolic disease, the overall secondary metabolic spectrum in congenital hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (HH) is largely undetermined. Therefore, we investigated metabolic profiles in HH patients and used ketotic hypoglycemia (KH) patients as a control cohort to unveil their distinct metabolic features.MethodsA total of 97 hypoglycemia children, including 74 with hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia and 23 with ketotic hypoglycemia, and 170 euglycemia control subjects were studied retrospectively. Clinical and biochemical data were collected. The normoglycemic spectra of amino acids and acylcarnitines were determined by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The serum insulin and fatty acid concentrations during standardized fasting tests in hypoglycemia patients were also collected. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to screen potential biomarkers.ResultsAmong the normoglycemic spectra of amino acids, blood valine (p < 0.001), arginine (p < 0.001), threonine (p = 0.001), glutamate (p = 0.002), methionine (p = 0.005), ornithine (p = 0.008), leucine (p = 0.014), alanine (p = 0.017), proline (p = 0.031), citrulline (p = 0.042), aspartate (p = 0.046), and glycine (p = 0.048) levels differed significantly among the three groups. Significantly decreased levels of long- (C14:1, p < 0.001; C18, p < 0.001), medium- (C8, p < 0.001; C10, p < 0.001; C10:1, p < 0.001), and short-chain (C4-OH, p < 0.001; C5OH, p < 0.001) acylcarnitines were found in the hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia group. Hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia children with focal lesions and diffuse lesions had similar amino acid and acylcarnitine spectra. C10:1 < 0.09 μmol/L, threonine > 35 μmol/L, and threonine/C10:1 > 440 showed sensitivities of 81.1, 66.2, and 81.1% and specificities of 72.7, 78.3, and 81.8%, respectively, in distinguishing HH from KH.ConclusionsWe found significantly different altered serum amino acid and acylcarnitine profiles at normoglycemia, especially decreased C10:1 and increased threonine levels, between HH and KH children, which may reflect the insulin ketogenesis inhibition effect in HH patients; however, the detailed mechanisms and physiological roles remain to be studied in the future.

Highlights

  • Hypoglycemia is a common pediatric emergency, and serious hypoglycemia might cause pediatric encephalopathy and intellectual impairment [1, 2]

  • The hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (HH) group had significantly higher serum insulin levels during hypoglycemia compared to the ketotic hypoglycemia (KH) group (p < 0.001)

  • Serum free fatty acids (FFAs) levels were significantly decreased in the HH group (p = 0.005) compared to the KH group

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Summary

Introduction

Hypoglycemia is a common pediatric emergency, and serious hypoglycemia might cause pediatric encephalopathy and intellectual impairment [1, 2]. During the neonatal and infant periods, hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (HH) is the most common etiology of refractory hypoglycemia resulting from congenital gene mutations [3, 4], while ketotic hypoglycemia (KH), which is characterized by high ketone body concentrations, is more common in patients older than 1 year of age [5] despite the small portion of inborn early-onset ketone-related metabolic disorders [6]. HH children have different metabolic profiles from normal children and children with KH. In addition to inborn metabolic disorders, altered metabolic profiles were reported to be associated with the risk and prognosis of some non-metabolic diseases, while as a rare metabolic disease, the overall secondary metabolic spectrum in congenital hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (HH) is largely undetermined. We investigated metabolic profiles in HH patients and used ketotic hypoglycemia (KH) patients as a control cohort to unveil their distinct metabolic features

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