Lutein levels in arterial cord blood correlate with neuroprotein activin A in healthy preterm and term newborns: A trophic role for lutein?

Background: Lutein (LT) is a naturally occurring xanthophyll carotenoid most predominant in the central nervous system (CNS), but its neurotrophic role is still debated. We therefore investigated whether cord blood concentrations correlated with a well-established neurobiomarker, namely activin A. Methods: We conducted a prospective study on the distribution of LT and activin A in arterial cord blood of healthy preterm (n = 50) and term (n = 82) newborns according to weeks of gestational age (wGA) and gender. Results: LT and activin A showed a pattern of concentration characterized by higher levels (P < 0.01, for all) at 33–36 wGA followed by a progressive decrease (P < 0.01, for all) from 37 onwards with a dip at term. Both LT and activin A were gender-dependent with significantly (P < 0.01, for all) higher levels in all recruited females and after sub-grouping for preterm and term births. LT (R = 0.33; P < 0.001) correlated with wGA at sampling. There were significant positive correlations between lutein and activin A in male (R = 0.93; P < 0.001) and female (R = 0.89; P < 0.001) groups. Conclusions: The present data showing a correlation between LT and activin A support the notion of a neurotrophic role gender-dependent for LT and open the way to further investigations correlating LT with well-established biochemical markers of CNS development/damage.