HYDROGEN-SULFIDE IN PEDIATRIC PARENTERAL AMINO-ACID SOLUTIONS

Intravenous amino acid solutions are widely used in pediatric patients. The amino acid composition of such solutions is of biological importance, particularly for parenterally fed mature and premature infants who have very high requirements of protein, essential and conditionally essential amino acids. Among the amino acids supplied with many current amino acid solutions in lower proportions than in human milk protein is cysteine because of its poor solubility and its chemical instability. Commercially available solutions for use in infants and young children contain the more stable cysteine derivatives acetylcysteine or cysteine hydrochloride. It appears possible that sulfide may be liberated from these cysteine derivatives during production of parenteral solutions—particularly during heat sterilization— and lead to the formation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). We suspected the presence of H2S when we noticed a typical smell resembling rotten eggs after opening bottles of amino acid solutions. Therefore, we investigated whether H2S can be detected in pediatric amino acid infusion solutions. © 1993 Raven Press, Ltd., New York.