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Review
. 2017 Jul 13:22:11.
doi: 10.1186/s11658-017-0042-4. eCollection 2017.

Cells of human breast milk

Malgorzata Witkowska-Zimny  1 , Ewa Kaminska-El-Hassan  1
Affiliations
Review

Cells of human breast milk

Malgorzata Witkowska-Zimny et al. Cell Mol Biol Lett. .

Abstract

Human milk is a complex fluid that has developed to satisfy the nutritional requirements of infants. In addition to proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and other biologically active components, breast milk contains a diverse microbiome that is presumed to colonize the infant gastrointestinal tract and a heterogeneous population of cells with unclear physiological roles and health implications. Noteworthy cellular components of breast milk include progenitor/stem cells. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge of breast milk cells, including leukocytes, epithelial cells, stem cells and potentially probiotic bacteria.

Keywords: Human breast milk; Leukocytes; Microbiome; Probiotic bacteria; Stem cells.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cells present in human breast milk
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Morphology of the breast milk-derived cells. a Heterogeneous cell population including leukocytes. b Mammosphere created by hBSCs on Matrigel (on day 8 after isolation). c Subpopulation of lactocytes and myoepithelial cells on day 2 after isolation, culture in vitro on tissue culture plates
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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