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Non-protein nitrogen from human milk is presently being implicated in neonatal physiology. Human milk contains relatively high amounts of nucleotides which are practically absent in cow's milk and milk formulas. These compounds have been related to normal growth and cellular immunity in animals in early life. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary nucleotides on the plasma fatty acid pattern in term neonates during the first month of life. Twenty-six infants were fed human milk, 35 a milk formula and 23 the same formula supplemented with cytidine, adenosine, guanosine, uridine and inosine 5'-monophosphates in similar quantities to those determined in human milk. Plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids with more than 18 carbons of the omega 6 family were significantly increased in infants fed with the nucleotide-supplemented milk formula with respect to those fed the milk formula, whereas no differences could be detected between the human milk-fed and the nucleotide milk formula-fed ones. These results suggest that dietary nucleotides may be involved in the conversion of linoleic acid to longer chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during early life.