Fasting serum gastrin values in normal Chinese children.

To determine the reference ranges and developmental pattern of serum gastrin in Chinese children, fasting serum samples of 362 Chinese infants and children aged from newborns to 14 years were measured by radioimmunoassay. All the participants were healthy and were without gastrointestinal disorders. The mean gastrin values for cord blood (111.55 +/- 68.05 pg/ml) and newborns (100.05 +/- 72.43 pg/ml) are higher than those for adult controls (43.85 +/- 15.59 pg/ml). The mean gastrin value achieves its highest level of 179.86 +/- 94.61 pg/ml on the 3rd day of age. Physiologic hypergastrinemia persists throughout the whole neonatal period. The mean gastrin value for infants between 6 days and 6 months of age is 96.08 +/- 50.05 pg/ml, this decreases to 76.73 +/- 44.23 pg/ml at 7 to 12 months of age, and to 75.89 +/- 43.88 pg/ml at 1 year of age. It reaches the low adult level (40-45 pg/ml) at about 2 years of age.