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. 2015 Oct 19;7(10):8577-91.
doi: 10.3390/nu7105415.

Longitudinal Study of Cytokine Expression, Lipid Profile and Neuronal Growth Factors in Human Breast Milk from Term and Preterm Deliveries

Maria Carmen Collado  1 , Marina Santaella  2 , Laia Mira-Pascual  3 , Elena Martínez-Arias  4 , Parisá Khodayar-Pardo  5 , Gaspar Ros  6 , Cecilia Martínez-Costa  7
Affiliations

Longitudinal Study of Cytokine Expression, Lipid Profile and Neuronal Growth Factors in Human Breast Milk from Term and Preterm Deliveries

Maria Carmen Collado et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Breast milk (BM) is considered as a reference for infant nutrition. The role of bioactive components, such as cytokines, hormones, growth factors (GFs) and fatty acids (FAs) is poorly known, but they might be implicated in immune response development. The aim of this study was to identify the lipid profile and the spectrum of cytokines and neuronal GF in BM samples and analyse the influence of gestational age and lactation time on these components. This study used a longitudinal prospective method for the characterization of cytokines, FAs and GFs global profiles in 120 BM samples from 40 healthy mothers (20 preterm and 20 term) collected as colostrum, transitional and mature milk. The cytokines were analysed by protein array (Ray Bio® Human Cytokine Array G6. Ray Biotech, Inc. Norcross, GA, USA) and the FAs were analysed by gas chromatography. The FA profile was similar between the term and the preterm BM samples. Omega-3-α-linoleic and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and omega-6-linoleic acid were the most abundant in the term and preterm samples during lactation. Omega-3 ETA and omega-3 EPA we observed exclusively in the preterm samples. The cytokine profile showed a different trend based on gestational age. A significantly higher expression of neurotrophic factors was found in the mature preterm milk samples as compared to the mature term samples. Our study is the first to identify the influence and interactions of perinatal factors on cytokine, GFs and FAs in human milk.

Keywords: breast milk; breastfeeding; cytokines; docosahexaenoic acid; fatty acids; growth factors; human milk; neurotrophic factor; polyunsaturated fatty acids.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relative abundances (%) of fatty acids (FAs) (Panel A) and ratio of saturated (SFAs) to unsaturated-UFAs (PUFAs and MUFAs) fatty acids (Panel B) present in breast milk samples according to gestational age and lactation stage.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relative abundances of unsaturated fatty acids (Panel A) and ratio omega-6 to omega-3 (Panel B) in breast milk samples. The ratio omega-6 to omega-3 was significantly different (* p-value < 0.05) between term and preterm samples.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relative abundances (%) of different PUFAs omega 3 family components (Panel A) and omega-6 family components (Panel B) present in breast milk samples analysed by gas chromatography and grouped according to gestational age and lactation stage.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Loading Scatter Plot of the fatty acid profile (n = 40 fatty acids determined) obtained by gas liquid chromatography. By comparing the score and loading plot, the relationships between fatty acids and samples (term and preterm during lactation) could be identified.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Loading Scatter Plot of cytokine profile (n = 60 cytokines) obtained by protein arrays from milk samples. By comparing the score and loading plot, the relationships between cytokine profiles and samples (term and preterm during lactation) could be identified.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Biplot PCA model representing the correlation structure of the dataset in a two-dimensional space of the fatty acid profile (n = 40 fatty acids determined) obtained by gas liquid chromatography and cytokine profile (n = 60 cytokines) obtained by protein arrays from milk samples.
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