Abstract

PIP: 1 case study and a clinical study with laboratory rats examined the question of breast milk jaundice. The case study confirmed clinical diagnosis of breast milk jaundice. The clinical study compared the effects of breast milk and 3alpha, 20beta-pregnanediol on the conjugation of bilirubin and o-aminophenol by rat liver. Breast milk from a mother of a child with breast milk jaundice decreased the rate of bilirubin conjugation by rat liver slices and the amount of conjugated bilirubin in the slice, indicating an inhibitory effect on glucuronyl transferase. Breast milk caused 100% inhibition of bilirubin conjugation while 3alpha, 20beta-pregnanediol caused only a 55% inhibition. Breast milk decreased the amount of bilirubin in rat liver slices but the steroid did not. It is suggested that the breast milk has an inhibitory effect on the glucuronyl transferase while the steroid acts on the secretory process instead. There may be more than 1 inhibitory substance in breast milk; this process is not yet fully understood.